- Judge Thomas Wilson announced the dismissal Friday, two days after attorneys raised concerns about the juror having too much non-verbal communication with defendant Paul Bellar.
- “It didn’t just happen on one day – it happened over multiple days,” the judge said about the juror’s behavior. “I decided it’s safer to err on the side of caution.”
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The prosecutor for the Michigan attorney general in the case also raised concerns about eye contact and smiling between Bellar and the juror.
- In addition, Bellar’s attorney also reportedly said he’d seen interactions between the two since the trial began.
- Bellar, 24, was allegedly a member of the paramilitary group the Wolverine Watchmen, which allegedly help mastermind the kidnap plot of what they considered Whitmer’s extreme lockdown orders at the height of the pandemic.
