GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The trial against four men accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer in retaliation for her COVID-19 restrictions will soon begin in Grand Rapids.
A jury was seated late Tuesday afternoon and opening statements will begin Wednesday morning.
Federal prosecutors said the four defendants conspired to kidnap Whitmer in retaliation for her COVID-19 restrictions during the early months of the pandemic.
The men accused are Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft Junior and Daniel Harris.
Two other men who have pleaded guilty will testify for the government.
To narrow the jury pool down, federal prosecutors and defense attorneys asked potential jurors about topics that would impact their impartiality, including their thoughts on guns, militias, political views and whether or not they've already formed an opinion on the high profile case or if they have family members in law enforcement.
"The judge ultimately is the one to determine whether or not a juror is impartial, but lawyers can always challenge a juror for cause if it appears based on the questioning on that for one reason or another they simply can't be fair to either the government or the defense," said Randall Levine, the Managing Partner of Levine & Levine Law in Kalamazoo.
Levine believes federal prosecutors will try to get jurors who are concerned about fringe groups.
"The defense, on the other hand, may be looking for jurors who don't believe the government ought to be in the business of creating crime and aren't necessarily afraid of people who bear arms and consider it a right," Levine said.
Despite this being a high profile case, some potential jurors told the judge Tuesday they've only read headlines about the case and nothing more specific.
Meanwhile, a few other jurors were dismissed because they said they didn't like Gov. Whitmer and didn't think they could be impartial.
Gov. Whitmer was asked about the trial Tuesday morning.
"I've told my team I don't have time to follow all the intricacies of it," Gov. Whitmer said. "It's disturbing and frankly, I got too much work to do. So that's a long way of saying no, I'm not really following."
The trial is expected to last more than a month.
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