A federal jury found the two ringleaders in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 guilty on Tuesday.
Adam Fox and Barry Croft were found guilty of plotting to kidnap the Democratic governor over her restrictive COVID-19 policies after another jury failed to reach a verdict on their charges during their first trial in April. The two men were also found guilty of attempting to procure a weapon of mass destruction.
Fox and Croft face life in federal prison when they are sentenced, the Detroit News reported.
Whitmer celebrated the verdict in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“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,” the governor said. “They will not succeed.”
MAN ACQUITTED IN GRETCHEN WHITMER KIDNAPPING PLOT SPEAKS OUT
“But we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics,” she added. “Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the foundation of our republic.”
I ran for office because I love my fellow Michiganders and my home state with all my heart. I always will. I will not let extremists get in the way of the work we do. ⁰⁰They will never break my unwavering faith in the goodness and decency of our people. pic.twitter.com/LTRTF8carm
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) August 23, 2022
Two other defendants, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, were found not guilty during the April trial.
The government’s star witnesses, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, had pleaded guilty to their involvement in the kidnapping plot before the April trial. Garbin and Franks testified at both trials.
Defense attorneys argued during the trial that Fox and Croft were entrapped by overzealous undercover FBI informants and would have never plotted to kidnap Whitmer had they not been manipulated by federal law enforcement agents.
But U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said Fox and Croft’s actions speak for themselves.
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“These defendants were outside a woman’s house in the middle of the night with night-vision goggles and guns and a plan to kidnap her,” Kessler told jurors. “And they made a real bomb. That’s far enough, isn’t it?”
