'They intended to do it': Feds urge jury to convict Whitmer kidnap plot suspects

The Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plotters didn't just call the governor names and talk about violence, but trained to snatch the governor, cased her house twice, mapped it out, and were "drifting around armed to the teeth, making homemade bombs," a prosecutor argued Friday in closing the government's historic domestic terrorism case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler began his closing statement by addressing the defendants' ongoing argument: that this was just talk, men blowing off steam about their anger over the pandemic, the masks, and the shutdowns.

“In America, there’s a lot of things you can do. You can criticize the government publicly, absolutely," Kessler told jurors. "If you don’t like the government’s policies, you can protest them. If you don’t like elected leaders, you can vote them out at the ballot box. What you can’t do is kidnap them, kill them, or blow them up.”

That's what the four men on trial wanted to do, Kessler told jurors, stressing they never chose to leave the group when they heard talk of violence.

"These defendants didn’t skedaddle ... Dan harris said, ' just dome her. shoot her in the head,' " Kessler said, noting the others could have said, " 'I'm not down with this,' " or gone to the police.

But that never happened, Kessler said, arguing all the defendants were willing participants in a crime that involved blowing up a bridge, assaulting Whitmer's security detail and any cop who got in the way, and kidnapping the state's highest ranking politician because they were upset over her handling of the pandemic.

"In America, it's a crime," he said, stressing: "The evidence you heard proves they're guilty."

Kessler repeatedly argued that the group took action to make it happen.

More: Judge tells jury it can consider entrapment defense in Whitmer kidnap trial

More: 'He's a b----': Defense rests case in Whitmer kidnap plot after suspect's wild testimony

"It wasn’t just talk. Barry Croft drove across the country four times to plan this. Adam Fox came up (to Whitmer's cottage) twice. It wasn't just protected speech," Kessler told the jury, adding the group took efforts to conceal their plan. "They weren't going to protests. They were specifically keeping a low profile so that nobody would know what they were up to."

Kessler spent 40-minutes rehashing the government's case, telling the jury how each man participated in the alleged kidnapping plot, what motivated the group, and said things like, "Why don’t we just kill her, just go to her house and put three bullets in her."

Kessler scoffed at Fox's claims that he was a poor misfit who lived in a vacuum shop basement and just wanted to fit in, telling jurors Fox was angry about his life and blamed it on that "tyrant b----" - as he was heard saying in a recorded conversation.

And he was the proud leader of the group, Kessler said, arguing it was Fox who stood up at a meeting in August and said: "Here's our plan. We need to raise $4,000. He was pitching that to everyone."

According to the prosecution, the $4,000 was to be a down payment for explosives the group would use to blow up a bridge near Whitmer's vacation house to slow down law enforcement.

“In the world Adam Fox wanted, the person with the biggest muscles and guns makes the rules,” Kessler said, later adding: "He was the leader."

The prosecutor described Brandon Caserta as a defiant, angry man who was obsessed with conspiracy theories, and referred to recordings that captured Caserta saying he wanted to go after the "Zionist bankers pulling the strings."

"He’s angry at authority," Kessler said of Caserta. "He wants to live in a world where no one can tell him what to do."

Kessler also countered the defense's claims that the defendants were merely military-wannabes who never could have pulled this off.

"The judge says that doesn't matter," Kessler told the jury, stressing it didn't matter if they could pull off the kidnapping or not.

All that matters, Kessler told the jury, is that the group wanted to kidnap the governor, and took action to make it happen.

"Casing the governor’s house was overt," Kessler argued. "They didn’t have to agree when or how or why — they just had to agree that they were going to do it."

And they were reckless and dangerous, Kessler argued, telling the jury they could have blown themselves up when they were building explosives, or injured defendant Croft's 12-year-old daughter, who was there on the day her dad and his militia were building explosives, according to trial testimony.

"You have to believe that they intended to do it," Kessler said. "Think about all the training they did. The kill houses they set up ... this was supposed to be a mockup of the governor’s house."

Kessler told the jury the group used the kill houses to simulate the kidnapping, with "hallways to the left, to the right."

Kessler also challenged the defense's entrapment claims, specifically that an undercover informant known as Big Dan was the driving force behind the kidnapping plot, and that he ran the whole show.

"Did you hear anything that convinced you that Dan or anyone convinced them to do anything, that this idea came from the government ?" Kessler asked the jury. "The only thing you heard was that they thought Dan was cool."

Kessler also asked the jury to recall the testimony of Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks - the two codefendants who pleaded guilty and testified against the others. They both testified that no one convinced them or others to do anything, and that they willingly joined the kidnapping plan.

"They told you there was no entrapment," Kessler told the jury. " They never heard anyone say, 'This was Dan’s idea. ' "

And it wasn't just "innocent fun," he said, referring to the defense's argument that the suspects were merely having fun at barbecues, drank beer, and brought friends and family to these events. Kessler cited the testimony of a woman who attended one of the group's barbecues, not knowing the group was training for a kidnapping.

"When she heard the transcripts about kidnapping the governor, she was like, 'Whoa, I had no idea this was going on,' " Kessler said.

Kessler also told jurors to consider the testimony of co-defendants Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, who cut deals in the case and testified against the others, telling the jury that no one forced them or the others to join the kidnapping plan.

"Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks said this plot was real, as real as the bomb that went off in Luther," Kessler said.

Garbins and Franks also testified about a group exercise during which they were jumping out of cars, telling jurors they were practicing to assault Whitmer's security detail.

Daniel Harris was also concerned about the governor's security, Kessler told the jury, reminding them of a recording in which Harris is heard talking about the security detail that Whitmer may get should Joe Biden win the presidency, and appoint her to his cabinet.

Kessler also scoffed at the defense's claims that the suspects were high on marijuana most of the time, and were stoned when they vented about the governor.

“Do you know anybody who is stoned for five straight months?” Kessler asked jurors.

Defense attorney Christopher Gibbons, who is Adam Fox's lawyer, is now giving his closing arguments.

Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Prosecution gives closing statements at Whitmer kidnap plot trial