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DETROIT — A juror in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping trial told co-workers about hoping to be selected for jury duty, already deciding the case and intending to ensure a particular verdict, according to a sealed federal court filing.
Joshua Blanchard, the defense lawyer for accused kidnapping ringleader Barry Croft of Delaware, leveled the allegation late Thursday, describing a claim of jury misconduct that threatens to upend one of the largest domestic terrorism cases in a generation.
The allegation surfaced after the second day of testimony in the case against Croft and alleged co-conspirator Adam Fox. They are accused of trying to spark a second Civil War ahead of the 2020 presidential election by plotting to kidnap Whitmer at her northern Michigan vacation home and put her on trial for treason.
Croft’s lawyer revealed the allegation in a court filing that was briefly available on the federal court docket Thursday and downloaded by The Detroit News. The filing was sealed by court staff early Friday and is no longer available to the public.
The potential misconduct was reported to court officials recently, according to the now-sealed filing.
“The timeline reported matches the timeline of jury selection in this case and the reporting party had apparent credible identifying information regarding the juror which lent credibility to the assertions,” Blanchard wrote.
It is unclear from the court filing whether the juror supports the government’s case or sides with the defense. The trial started with 12 jurors and six alternates but one juror was dismissed this week due to an illness and replaced by an alternate. That alternate’s relative has admitted smoking marijuana with Fox during a chance encounter near the governor’s vacation home, according to the Detroit Free Press.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker discussed the new misconduct allegation with prosecutors and defense lawyers before deciding the trial would continue while a clerk investigated the matter, according to the filing.
“At the end of the trial day, the court conducted another in-chambers conference where it explained its findings from the jury clerk’s investigation, expressed an intention to handle the matter by meeting with the juror in camera and without counsel or defendants at the end of the trial proofs...,” Blanchard wrote. “The court denied counsel’s request to be present and participate in this hearing.”
The judge did not mention the juror misconduct allegation when court resumed Friday.
But in an order filed in court, Jonker issued a gag order preventing prosecutors and defense lawyers from publicly addressing the allegation. The judge also ordered any relevant court filings be sealed until the jury is dismissed, to limit the risk of a mistrial.
The judge also disputed Blanchard’s version of events, which he described as a “fluid and unfolding situation.”
“The court does not believe the brief accurately and completely recites either the available information, the applicable law, or the court’s plan of addressing the situation consistent with applicable law,” the judge wrote.
Blanchard wants the judge to conduct an evidentiary hearing about the potential jury misconduct and wrote that his client “objects to any hearing being conducted in his absence.”
“A prospective juror’s failure to disclose material information is grounds for a new trial if it demonstrates bias,” Blanchard wrote.
The trial started Tuesday, four months after jurors acquitted two accused members of the plot and deadlocked on charges against Fox, 39, of Potterville and Croft, 46, a truck driver from Delaware.
Fox and Croft were arrested in October 2020 along with nearly a dozen others accused of plotting to kidnap Whitmer. State charges are pending against 10 men.
Two others, Ty Garbin, 26, of Hartland Township, and Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford Township, pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping conspiracy charges and are expected to testify again as the government’s star witnesses.