The jury began deliberations Monday in the federal trial of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over her restrictive COVID-19 policies in 2020.

Defense attorneys urged jurors to acquit their clients during closing arguments Friday, saying they were high all the time and engaged in “stoned crazy talk” when the kidnapping plot was allegedly hatched during the summer of 2020. They added that their clients would have never conspired to kidnap the Democratic governor if government informants embedded in the group hadn’t pushed them to do so.