Michigan Gov. Whitmer kidnapping plot: State trial juror dismissed for possible flirting with defendant
16.10.2022 - 16:43
/ foxnews.com
A judge dismissed a female juror accused of flirting with one of the defendants charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over COVID-19-era lockdown measures. Jackson County Judge Thomas Wilson announced Friday that the woman has been removed from the jury, two days after attorneys raised concerns the juror was having too much non-verbal communication with defendant Paul Bellar, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reported.
"It didn’t just happen on one day — it happened over multiple days," Wilson said of the juror’s behavior. "I decided it's safer to err on the side of caution." Wilson said he had never seen such behavior in nearly 35 years of practicing law.The juror took the decision well, he said. Michigan Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer answers question after announcing new economic development projects at an event on Oct. 5, 2022, in Grand Rapids.
(Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) William Rollstin, who is prosecuting the case for the Michigan attorney general, raised concerns before Wilson during a meeting in chambers Wednesday about eye contact and smiling between Bellar and the juror. Several others in the courtroom, including Wilson and Bellar’s attorney, Andrew Kirkpatrick, also said they had seen interactions between the two since the trial began. But Kareem Johnson, who represents Musico, argued there "was no verbal communication between the two, and the descriptions of the communication are speculative." Paul Bellar, middle, appears before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson on Wednesday, Oct.
5, 2022 for trial in Jackson, Mich. (J. Scott Park/Jackson Citizen Patriot via AP, Pool) Bellar, 24, was an alleged member of a paramilitary group, the Wolverine Watchmen. He is
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