The jury in the Governor Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot is deliberating for the second day, and emerged with their second question for the judge.
On Monday, they asked for a dictionary, and a legal definition of the term “weapon.”
On day two, they emerged with a second question: Can we see the transcripts of the witness testimony?
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said no, and urged the jury — which was allowed to take notes during trial — to focus on what they remembered, and the evidence they have been given, including the secret audio recordings of the defendants and the written transcripts of what they said in those recordings.
Jonker further explained that the transcripts, which were not finished yet, were expected to be 3,400 pages long. He advised jurors that if they had the transcripts, they may focus too much on many individual aspects instead of looking at the entirety of the evidence presented.
The prosecution and defense both agreed with Jonker’s decision not to release the testimony. Jonker said it was up to the jury to consider each witness’s individual testimony, of which they have access to audio recordings with transcripts.
“There’s a richness in oral testimony that words alone don’t capture,” Jonker told the jury. “Pay attention to them in the context of everything you learned about the speaker.”
The jury is comprised of six women and six men, several of whom are from northern Michigan.
The jury is considering the defense stragety of claiming entrapment by the FBI. Two co-defendants have already plead guilty and provided testimony that there was no entrapment.
Of the four remaining defendants, all are charged with kidnapping conspiracy; three are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction; two are charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device; one is charged with possession of an illegal short-barrel rifle.