NBC Boston followed its exclusive interview with three jurors who wanted Lindsay Clancy acquitted by publishing an investigative piece that mined the lone holdout’s personal history.
The Clancy trial ended in a mistrial on September 4 after seven days and nearly 40 hours of deliberations. Eleven jurors were prepared to find the former labor-and-delivery nurse not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility for strangling her three children in January 2023. One juror—a Black man, the only person of color on the panel—would not join them.
Days later, NBC10 Boston aired an interview with foreperson Roni Carlson, Paula Devlin, and Kellie Farina. They described the holdout as “very arrogant,” unwilling to listen, and fixated on the fact that Clancy “viciously killed her children.” Carlson said he admitted having reasonable doubt and she began filling out the verdict forms—only for him to add that he still would not vote not guilty by reason of insanity. The station noted it had tried and failed to reach him.
On September 11 the same outlet published a follow-up by its investigative unit. Court records and interviews with relatives showed a 2021 assault charge after his then-13-year-old nephew called 911 alleging he grabbed his wife by the throat and threw her into a dresser (the charge was later dismissed after the couple divorced). The nephew later obtained a restraining order that was still active during jury selection and the trial. Housing-court records showed a pending eviction and more than $12,000 in unpaid rent. Reporters contacted family members, the former wife, and the landlord and went to the home where eviction proceedings were underway. They did not print the juror’s name—the list remains sealed until September 18—but the specific court details, locations, and family connections made identification straightforward.
The piece framed these facts as raising “questions about the jury selection process” and whether the juror answered the questionnaire truthfully. A station legal analyst said he could not see how the man would have been seated if the questions had been answered correctly. Family members described him as a “narcissist.” The article recirculated the earlier jurors’ complaints that he refused to engage.
Critics immediately called it a smear. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote that NBC was targeting a juror “whose identity should be protected” simply because he “objected to allowing a woman to kill her three young kids and get away with it,” and offered the man “asylum” in Florida if he faced harassment. Conservative outlets and commentators described the reporting as doxxing a private citizen who had been compelled to serve and then punished for refusing to acquit. They noted the station had not pursued similar personal histories of the 11 jurors who spoke publicly and wanted Clancy committed to a hospital rather than prison.
The holdout has not spoken. The judge had already sealed the jurors’ names precisely because of the case’s “significant and divisive attention.” NBC Boston’s sequence—first amplifying the majority’s frustration, then publishing court and family details that identified the dissenter—turned one juror’s private life into the next chapter of a national argument over whether Clancy should be held criminally responsible. Prosecutors have not yet said whether they will retry the case.
SOURCES:
Lindsay Clancy holdout juror had history of domestic violence allegations – NBC Boston
Holdout Juror in Lindsay Clancy’s Mistrial Highlights a Divide in America – The New York Times
NBC Boston slammed for smearing holdout juror in Lindsay Clancy case after he refused not guilty verdict | The Post Millennial | thepostmillennial.com
Big Tigger returning to V-103 after months-long absence | 11alive.com
