Juror dismissed in Gov. Whitmer kidnapping trial for alleged flirting with a defendant

A female juror was dismissed during the trial of three defendants charged in an alleged plot to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. The juror was allegedly flirting with one of the defendants, Fox News reports. 

Jackson County Judge Thomas Wilson made an announcement on Friday that the female juror was removed from the jury because attorneys raised concerns over too much "nonverbal communication" with defendant Paul Bellar, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot.

"It didn't just happen on one day — it happened over multiple days," Wilson said, according to Fox. "I decided it's safer to err on the side of caution."

Bellar's attorney, Andrew Kirkpatrick, also stated that he had seen flirtatious interactions between Bellar and the juror two days before the trial had even begun.

According to Wilson, the juror took it well when asked to leave, even though another attorney involved in the trial, Kareem Johnson, stated that there was "was no verbal communication between the two, and the descriptions of the communication are speculative."  

The defendants in the trial have pleaded "not guilty" and said they were entrapped by an FBI informant and his handlers.