— Judge James Biernat will not preside over the second Michael George murder trial, which will be randomly assigned to one of eight other Macomb County judges.

The decision that Macomb County jurist Biernat will not hear the case was revealed Monday following a pretrial hearing in George’s case. Biernat is retiring Dec. 31, but there has been discussion about him possibly remaining on the bench to preside over the trial as a visiting judge. However, Chief Judge Mark Switalski said Monday the proper avenue is to give the case to one of eight colleagues who hear criminal cases on the bench.

Biernat from the bench countered some speculation from court observers that he wanted to preside over the trial.

“The court never wished to try this case,” he said. “This case will be randomly assigned, and I think appropriately so.”

Assistant Macomb prosecutor William Cataldo had previously indicated he would object to Biernat presiding over the case.

“Mr. Cataldo and I decided it would be best handled by the new judge,” said George’s defense attorney Carl Marlinga.

Biernat presided over the 2008 cold-case trial in which George, 50, was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1990 murder of his wife, Barbara, 32, who was found with a single bullet in her head in the Clinton Township comic book store the couple owned and operated. Biernat also granted a new trial six months later after police discovered several new investigative documents that slipped out of a police file.

A new trial has been scheduled for Feb. 8, but that seems precarious as Biernat said he did not want to tie the hands of the new judge.

Biernat on Monday put off two motions regarding evidence to be presented during the trial but set an evidentiary hearing for Dec. 13 to clarify the statements of a key witness in the case.

Michael Renaud, whose claimed telephone call to the comic book store places George at the murder scene less than one hour before the slaying, is expected to testify about whether he told a book author that he personally talked to a Clinton Township police officer about the call, and the officer took notes.

Law enforcement has not provided a written report about the claimed interview, and Marlinga contends that either the officer believed Renaud was not credible and thus didn’t file a report, or Renaud has “false memory.”

In the paperback book about the case, “Dead But Not Forgotten,” author Amber Hunt says Renaud “bundled up” his infant daughter, drove to the police station and talked to a detective for

10 to 15 minutes.  

“The cop asked questions, jotted down Renaud’s answers and sent him on his way,” Hunt says in the book.

“The absence of the notes or a report and the lack of any follow-up strongly suggest that there was something in Michael Renaud’s in-person demeanor or in the information he imparted which indicated to the detective conducting the interview that either the person or the information was not reliable,” Marlinga says in a written motion.

Marlinga also is trying to discredit Renaud with claims that Renaud may suffer “from false memories or is capable of making up stories without any basis in fact,” possibly due to Renaud’s “history of abusing alcohol and has further history of using mind altering drugs, including marijuana, LSD and hallucinogenic mushrooms which he refers to as ‘magic mushrooms.’ ”

But Renaud, 44, who was attending Wayne State University at the time of the murder, previously told The Macomb Daily he has a good memory and vehemently denied he used anything beyond marijuana and beer “like every other college student I knew at the time.” The married father of two said he graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in business, with an emphasis in accounting.

Renaud, a St. Clair Shores resident, said his memory is intact, even after he suffered a diving accident in 2003 that left him a quadriplegic.

George was owner of Comics World in Windber and has been living with family in Michigan. He has married again.

The prosecution has maintained that George killed Barbara George for insurance money and because he was unhappy with their marriage.

Michael George has said he was at his mother’s house at the time of the shooting.