Two men were found guilty by a federal jury of conspiring to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. (D-MI). The jury indicted Barry Croft and Adam Fox for plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). They face the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for the plot. The jury also found them guilty of one charge of conspiracy to misuse weapons of mass destruction.
Whitmer verdicts can be viewed in this context:
Initial trial took 3 weeks. The jury deliberated for four and a half days. There were 4 defendants in the trial and 2 witnesses cooperating who pleaded guilty.
A second trial lasted eight days. Two defendants were found with identical cooperating witnesses. Jury session lasted 7 hours.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) August 23, 2022
The prosecution claimed Fox was the leader and Croft was a part of the conspiracy. Nils Kessler, the prosecutor, stated during Monday’s closing arguments:
“There are a lot of things that are complicated today. There’s one thing that’s pretty simple still – kidnapping is wrong. You can’t just strap on an AR-15 and body armor and go snatch the governor. You can’t snatch anybody, and you certainly can’t make bombs that are meant to maim and kill people. This case concerns a plot against Gov. Whitmer. But that wasn’t these defendants ultimate goal.”
Kessler argued:
“They wanted to set off a second American Civil War and the second American Revolution.”
Fox’s attorney Christopher Gibbs said:
“Adam Fox was not ever predisposed to the crime of kidnapping Gov. Whitmer. Although he talked big, he is only talking. Adam Fox took no affirmative steps to achieve the ends as Special Agent Chambers and Big Dan pushed so hard to achieve.”
Croft’s attorney Joshua Blanchard said in court:
“Now as we sat here the last couple of weeks together in the trial, the government has shown us time and time again that they don’t care that Barry Croft didn’t actually make an agreement to kidnap the governor. They think it’s enough that some of the things that Barry says scares them … They’d like to lock him up in a cage, not because he committed this crime, but because they’re afraid of the things that have come out of his mouth.”
Despite being subpoenaed, the two other men that were acquitted during the first trial – Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris – did not testify in the defense case. Two co-defendants who pleaded guilty before the first trial – Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks – testified in both trials.
David Porter, the assistant special agent responsible for the FBI Detroit Field Office said:
“Here in America, if you disagree with your government, you have options. You can criticize your government, you can protest, you can vote your elected officials out of office … However, what you cannot do is plan or commit acts of violence. Violence is never the answer.”
Whitmer replied to the charges
“Today’s verdicts prove that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed … But we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics … Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.”
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