Convicted kidnap plotters Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. suspect that a biased or potentially rogue juror may have influenced the outcome of the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnap conspiracy trial, if their recent court filing is any indication.
Late Tuesday, attorneys for Fox and Croft Jr. requested what is known as a Remmer hearing — which is a legal proceeding held to determine if a juror has been improperly influenced or has engaged in misconduct. If the results of the hearing show that such influence or misconduct did occur and harmed the defendant, then a convicted defendant can ask for a new trial.
In this case, Fox and Croft have already been tried twice — they were convicted the second time — and are now asking for a third trial — though the full details of that request remain unknown because the filing has been sealed. What is known, however, is that the filing includes a request for a hearing to look into potential juror misconduct — an issue that weighed heavily on the defendants throughout the trial as an alleged problematic juror surfaced after opening statements, and was never removed.
The judge handled juror allegations on his own
According to court documents, the defense got a tip on the second day of trial that one of the jurors allegedly told a coworker that he/she was biased against the defendants, had hoped to get on the jury and would make sure they were convicted.
As it turned out, court records show, that tip came in from a second-hand source — not the person who purportedly heard the alleged comment at work. That person never came forward and refused to be identified, court records show.
None of this was supposed to get out as U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker quickly sealed the defense filing about the alleged problematic juror — though the Free Press obtained a copy of it before it was sealed.
To the chagrin of the defense, Jonker handled the issue on his own — interviewing the juror in private in his chambers in a 7-minute interview that concluded with the judge being convinced that the juror never made any such comment, and could remain on the jury. Two court staffers also attended that interview.
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According to a transcript of that interview, the juror told the judge that he/she never made any such comment to any coworker, and didn’t know what case the jury summons was for until he/she arrived at court and saw all the news trucks.
Jonker believed the juror, who has not been identified.
Meanwhile, Fox and Croft Jr. are mounting what their lawyers have vowed will be a vigorous appeal as both men face up to life in prison after a jury convicted them of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction.
Fox and Croft Jr., who will be sentenced in December, have long argued that they were merely big talkers set up by rogue undercover FBI agents and informants who they allege hatched the kidnapping plot and ran the whole show. Prosecutors convinced the jury otherwise, telling jurors that Fox and Croft did a lot more than talk, but also cased Whitmer’s house, held training exercises, built explosives and tried to buy more explosives as part of a plan to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s house to slow down law enforcement.
Fox and Croft Jr. are among six men arrested by the FBI in 2020 on charges they plotted to kidnap Whitmer out of anger over her handling of the pandemic. Of the six, two pleaded guilty, two were convicted in a retrial, and two others were acquitted in April. Others face state charges in the case.
Meanwhile, both the defense and prosecution are under a gag order that prevents either side from discussing any issues having to do with the jury.
Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
