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Jury acquits two in Michigan gov. kidnap plot; deadlocks on two others

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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A federal jury acquitted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and deadlocked on the case against two others, apparently agreeing to some degree with defense claims that FBI agents entrapped the men in a violent plot shortly before the 2020 election.

The trial in Grand Rapids, Mich. has been closely watched as a test of the U.S. government’s ramped-up efforts to combat domestic terrorism, and the verdict is a partial defeat for the Justice Department. The men’s arrest in October 2020 raised alarms about the possibility of politically-motivated violence as the nation was increasingly divided over a bitterly contested presidential race.
The jury, which began deliberating Monday, told the judge in a note Friday that they had reached a verdict on some of the charges, and could not agree on others. The judge instructed them to deliver the partial verdict, which acquitted Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta while deadlocking on the charges against Adam Fox and Barry Croft, Jr.



Three of the men are from Michigan; Croft is from Delaware. Government witnesses testified that Fox was the de facto leader of the group.
Two of the men initially arrested as part of the Michigan group, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, pleaded guilty months ago and testified against the other four at trial, saying they had agreed to kidnap Whitmer, a Democrat, from her lakeside home. The men allegedly discussed taking the governor to the middle of the lake on a boat, or holding a kind of mock tribunal for her. Testimony at their trial showed the men were particularly angry about state and federal government pandemic restrictions, and the possibility of vaccine mandates.
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The government’s case was build largely on secret recordings of the men’s conversations — recordings made by informants and undercover agents whose roles became a central issue at the trial.



In closing arguments, prosecutors said the defendants’ own words showed they were rage-filled extremists who hoped to spark a kind of civil war that would keep Biden from becoming president.
Months after their high-profile arrests, on Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of people who believed President Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president, further heightening concerns about far-right extremist groups and self-styled militias.
“If you don’t like your elected representatives, you can vote them out at the ballot box. That’s what makes this country great,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler told the jury on Friday. “What we can’t do is kidnap them, kill them or blow them up. That’s also what makes America great.”







Kessler said the scheming stretched back to a national meeting of self-styled militia groups in Ohio in the summer of 2020, then expanded to include other “training” meetings, and a trip at night to look at the governor’s home and inspect a nearby bridge, which they talked about blowing up to hamper any law enforcement response.
The men also practiced at what they called a “shoot house” to simulate entering Whitmer’s home with guns, according to trial evidence.
Defense lawyers said the government’s case was built on marijuana smoke and mirrors, and that undercover agents were responsible for the “radicalization” of men with no history of violence. The agents, the defense team argued, tried to talk the men into a fantastic plot that never materialized.
Accused leader of Whitmer plot was struggling financially, living in storage space
“This case is steeped in marijuana smoke,” said Fox’s lawyer, Christopher Gibbons, noting that testimony showed his client repeatedly smoked pot before discussions about the alleged plot. “These agents took advantage of Adam’s substance abuse issues.”



Gibbons said Fox was engaged in live action role playing, or LARPing, not any real world conspiracy. “The plan was utter nonsense... It wasn’t real to Adam Fox," said Gibbons. His client, he added, was "usually impaired. He’s just playing a game.”
The defense lawyer blamed Dan Chappel, a key informant in the case whose tip to the FBI started the investigation. Chappel, an Army veteran, joined a self-styled militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen, but became alarmed when he heard some participants talk about attacking police.
Prosecutors countered that Chappel risked his own safety to tell authorities about the brewing danger posed by the other men. “Thank God for Dan Chappel,” Kessler told the jury.

Croft’s lawyer, Joshua Blanchard, said the recordings and texts showed “crazy" and violent talk, but it wasn’t a real plan.
“There’s no doubt Barry said some things that were offensive, for sure, but the thing I find far more offensive is the way the FBI and the government behaved,” said Blanchard. “That’s not what I think of when I think of what it means to protect and serve, what it means to have integrity. This investigation was an embarrassment.”


 
Great so you can plot to kidnap the governor of a state and get off scott free.

Jury failed the country here. Whitmer better beef up her security in case one of the acquitted decides to take a second shot at it.
I’m guessing you haven’t followed closely minus reading the headlines a couple years ago.

Lead FBI investigator was fired after creating a fake Twitter account releasing FBI info prior to it becoming public knowledge.

His partner was fired from the FBI after ruthlessly beating his wife after a swinger party.

The defendants are homeless drug addicts. With enough time you could of talked them into a kidnapping on Mars. About half the group were actually working for the FBI. The other half are idiots.


 
They conspired together, they trained together, they assembled arms and equipment together, some of them broke and testified against the others.
That's a failed jury right there.
Lol trump probably paid them off as well.
 
I’m guessing you haven’t followed closely minus reading the headlines a couple years ago.
...
The defendants are homeless drug addicts. With enough time you could of talked them into a kidnapping on Mars. About half the group were actually working for the FBI. The other half are idiots.



Not surprised they've pivoted.
No longer looking for mentally deficient muslims to lead into headline generating plots.
That's so yesterday.

In 2011, Mother Jones published an outstanding, lengthy investigation by reporter Trevor Aaronson, entitled “The Informations,” which asked: “The FBI has built a massive network of spies to prevent another domestic attack. But are they busting terrorist plots—or leading them?” Aaronson covered numerous similar cases for The Intercept where the FBI designed, directed and even funded the terror plots and other criminal rings they then boasted of disrupting. A widely praised TEDTalk by Aaronson, which, in the words of organizers, “reveals a disturbing FBI practice that breeds terrorist plots by exploiting Muslim-Americans with mental health problems,” featured this central claim: “There's an organization responsible for more terrorism plots in the United States than al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and ISIS combined: The FBI.”
 
Great so you can plot to kidnap the governor of a state and get off scott free.

Jury failed the country here. Whitmer better beef up her security in case one of the acquitted decides to take a second shot at it.

Did these guys plot to kidnap the Gov or did the FBI under covers come up with the plan and try to convince some guys to help?
 
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Not surprised they've pivoted.
No longer looking for mentally deficient muslims to lead into headline generating plots.
That's so yesterday.

In 2011, Mother Jones published an outstanding, lengthy investigation by reporter Trevor Aaronson, entitled “The Informations,” which asked: “The FBI has built a massive network of spies to prevent another domestic attack. But are they busting terrorist plots—or leading them?” Aaronson covered numerous similar cases for The Intercept where the FBI designed, directed and even funded the terror plots and other criminal rings they then boasted of disrupting. A widely praised TEDTalk by Aaronson, which, in the words of organizers, “reveals a disturbing FBI practice that breeds terrorist plots by exploiting Muslim-Americans with mental health problems,” featured this central claim: “There's an organization responsible for more terrorism plots in the United States than al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and ISIS combined: The FBI.”
The “ringleader” in the whitmer case lived in the basement of a vacuum repair shop.
 
The “ringleader” in the whitmer case lived in the basement of a vacuum repair shop.
We live in a simulation, with lazy writers.

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Is this the case where 10 agents convince a couple or borderline mentally handicapped people to join them in a plot?

the two defendants we’re not the originators of the idea, likely couldn’t have an original idea, and were basically losers happy to have somebody call them a “friend” and went along for the ride?

I guess they door was locked to the group living center so this was the next easiest group.
 
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My favorite militia groups are the ones run by the FBI:

Dan Chappel (born c. 1987), nicknamed "Big Dan", an Army veteran who served in the Iraq War. He has stated that he joined the Wolverine Watchmen in 2020 after finding them on Facebook, wanting to keep up his firearms skills, but contacted law enforcement after seeing the group's radicalization.[79] After becoming an informant, Chappel became the group's "XO", or executive officer, the second-highest rank in the group,[80]and then its highest-ranked officer after Morrison departed the group due to marital problems.[80]Chappel taught the group tactical skills he had learned in the U.S. Army,[80] and in summer 2020 spent hours on the phone with Fox planning the kidnapping.
 
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My favorite militia groups are the ones run by the FBI:

Dan Chappel (born c. 1987), nicknamed "Big Dan", an Army veteran who served in the Iraq War. He has stated that he joined the Wolverine Watchmen in 2020 after finding them on Facebook, wanting to keep up his firearms skills, but contacted law enforcement after seeing the group's radicalization.[79] After becoming an informant, Chappel became the group's "XO", or executive officer, the second-highest rank in the group,[80]and then its highest-ranked officer after Morrison departed the group due to marital problems.[80]Chappel taught the group tactical skills he had learned in the U.S. Army,[80] and in summer 2020 spent hours on the phone with Fox planning the kidnapping.
And as stated earlier in this thread the head of the FBI Detroit office was promoted to the head of DC after this debacle. Big federal government is so great.
 
Two more people going to prison for Donald Trump.
Everything Trump touches dies. Two aggrieved victims activated by Dear Leader going to prison.
 
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My favorite militia groups are the ones run by the FBI:

Dan Chappel (born c. 1987), nicknamed "Big Dan", an Army veteran who served in the Iraq War. He has stated that he joined the Wolverine Watchmen in 2020 after finding them on Facebook, wanting to keep up his firearms skills, but contacted law enforcement after seeing the group's radicalization.[79] After becoming an informant, Chappel became the group's "XO", or executive officer, the second-highest rank in the group,[80]and then its highest-ranked officer after Morrison departed the group due to marital problems.[80]Chappel taught the group tactical skills he had learned in the U.S. Army,[80] and in summer 2020 spent hours on the phone with Fox planning the kidnapping.
Especially FBI informants.
 
A good reminder to everyone to not waste their spare time planning antigovernment plots that involve kidnappings and executions. Find a better hobby, nut jobs.
 
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