The defence attorney for Lindsay Clancy, Kevin Reddington, has asked the court to probe mobile phone use by "Juror Doe" during deliberations, as well as a questionnaire the juror filled out, according to a motion filed on Friday.
Clancy's trial ended in a mistrial this month after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Photo captions from the proceedings indicate Reddington made several attempts to convince the judge not to declare a mistrial.
Clancy has not denied killing her three children — Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months — at the family's home in Massachusetts. Her attorneys argued she was not guilty by reason of insanity, saying she was struggling with postpartum psychosis at the time. Prosecutors, however, contended Clancy made a calculated decision to send her husband out of the house on an errand so she could strangle her children.
The motion asks the court to examine calls and texts made by "Juror Doe" between 08:00 and 16:30 local time on each day the jury deliberated, the BBC reported.
Michael Desronvil, the lone juror who wanted to find Clancy guilty, has said there was "enough proof that she [Clancy] knew exactly what she was doing". A lawyer for Desronvil described the latest defence motion as a "Looney Tunes" attack on his client for doing his civic duty.
Tensions over the deadlock have spilled into public view. The juror forewoman has claimed in a media interview that Desronvil had expressed reasonable doubt about Clancy's guilt, which would have required him to find her not guilty. Desronvil denies this.