The latest trial in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretcher Whitmer took an unexpected turn Wednesday when a prosecutor accused a female juror of flirting with a defendant and the judge said he noticed it, too.
The unnamed woman is allegedly making eyes at 22-year-old Paul Bellar and sneaking smiles at him.
The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Bill Rollstin, told the judge that Bellar, a member of the Wolverine Watchmen, was flirting back and had shaken his fists at the juror.
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That claim drew protests from Bellar’s defense lawyer, who said the gesture was innocent: It was his client’s birthday and he was holding some Skittles, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“I have noticed her kind of looking. He knows. But he’s not winking at her. He’s not doing anything to encourage her,” the attorney, Andrew Kirkpatrick, told the court.
“I don’t think that’s a basis to get rid of this juror... Maybe she likes him, maybe she doesn’t. There’s no way of telling what’s in the juror’s mind.”
Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson said he had noticed the juror’s “small smirk.”
“I see her looking directly at your client, and a number of times I’ve seen smiles coming out of her face. It’s enough that it’s drawing my attention,” he said.
“I’m going to be paying close attention,” he added. “I don’t know if I’m going to kick her off or not.”
Lawyers for Bellar’s co-defendants objected to that scenario and branded it sexist.
“Where’s the basis for saying she’s gonna lie? Because she’s a woman? Because she’s young?” said lawyer Leonard Ballard, who is representing Joe Morrison.
According to the Associated Press, lawyer Kareem Johnson, who is defending Pete Musico, said other jurors have laughed or smiled during the eight days of trial in state court.
“She is supposed to judge the witnesses and judge the defendants. She’s got to look over here,” Johnson said.
Bellar, Morrison, and Musico are charged with providing material support for a terrorist act—essentially helping to train militia members who were charged in federal court with directly plotting to abduct Whitmer.
Two of those men were acquitted, and the case against two others initially ended in a deadlock, but they were convicted on retrial.
There were juror issues in the retrial, as well: The name of one juror’s daughter-in-law surfaced during the first trial as a woman who had smoked weed with one of the defendants, and defense lawyers got a tip that another juror had decided how they would vote even before they were chosen for the panel.
