A juror dismissed from former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s fraud trial told other jurors "the Holy Spirit" said Brown was innocent as the jury deliberated, according to a transcript the trial judge unsealed after a hearing Monday.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan’s decision to remove that juror will evidently become part of Brown’s effort to challenge her conviction last week on 18 out of 22 fraud and tax charges that could lead to years of imprisonment.

Although he hadn’t requested one Monday, Brown’s attorney, James W. Smith III, told reporters last week he planned to seek a new trial.

Corrigan acknowledged disagreement over the juror’s dismissal during a hearing that touched on a range of subjects involving the now-discharged jury.

"It is obviously a matter of contention in this case as to whether the court acted correctly," Corrigan said.

"I thought it was the right decision, but I know you have rights and I want you to be able to take advantage of those," the judge told Smith before denying a pair of oral motions that would have raised the possibility of attorneys talking with some jurors about their verdict.

Slideshow: Evidence shown in the trial of former Congresswoman Corrine Brown's fraud trial

Court rules largely restrict attorney contact with jurors, but Corrigan said Smith could still file written motions that lay out in detail his argument for varying from that.

Smith told reporters outside the federal courthouse that the judge is "striving like he always does to be very fair and to balance a lot of competing interests."

One juror emailed Smith over the weekend, and another texted an assistant to Corrigan on Monday, each suggesting they had information to share.

Dismissing the juror who believed in Brown’s innocence seems to have been significant for jury deliberations.

The panel had talked about a day and a half with no verdict before another member reported qualms about comments by the juror, who Corrigan questioned with attorneys for both sides present. After he was dismissed Wednesday, the remaining jurors and an alternate were told to start from scratch, and they had a unanimous verdict a little over a day later.

A transcript that Corrigan read Monday indicated the juror, who hasn’t been publicly identified, said he had been upfront about his belief he had been contacted by the Holy Spirit, which Christianity describes as one of three manifestations of God.

"’I mentioned it in the very beginning, when we were on the first charge,’" the transcript quoted the juror as saying.

But Smith said the man was trying to make a decision based on evidence presented at trial, the function of any juror.

"I think this is nothing more than a circumstance of … a man of deep faith commenting and saying that something he believed beforehand had been reaffirmed by the evidence that he saw," Smith is shown arguing in the transcript. "… I don’t think we have a juror who’s come in and said, ‘despite the evidence, I’m going to follow God, rather than the court.’"

Before they were picked for Brown’s jury last month, potential members were asked whether they had political views that would keep them from judging Brown impartially, and whether they had religious, moral or philosophical reasons to not judge her.

The transcript showed Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Tysen Duva argued that mentioning the Holy Spirit during deliberations was "in direct contradiction" to the screening goal of getting jurors focused on trial evidence.

Several people were excused from jury screening after saying they had strong views about Brown, some favorable and some hostile. The juror who was removed during deliberations hadn’t reported anything that raised red flags.