Prosecutors Fail to Secure a Single Guilty Verdict in Alleged Whitmer Kidnapping Plot
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A jury acquitted two men accused by the FBI of conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and could not reach verdicts on two other men involved in the alleged plot.
Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were found not guilty on the charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Harris was also found not guilty of other weapons charges pertaining to the case.
The jury said they could not agree on verdicts for Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., who were also charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the alleged plot. As a result, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker declared a mistrial for Fox and Croft.
The defendants faced life in prison if convicted on the kidnapping charge.
Prosecutors claimed that Fox and Croft acted as the group’s leaders. While Croft is from Delaware, the other defendants are from Michigan.
The FBI first alleged the existence of a plot to kidnap Whitmer and overthrow Michigan’s government in October 2020.
“Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor,” an FBI agent wrote in an affadavit for the case. “At one point, several members talked about state governments they believed were violating the U.S. Constitution, including the government of Michigan and Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”
Defense attorneys claimed that the accused were tricked or goaded into conspiring to kidnap the governor by undercover FBI agents and informants. Federal prosecutors ended up indicting one of their own informants on a gun charge, while one of the FBI agents who testified in the case, Richard Trask, was subsequently fired after being accused of beating his wife in an argument following an orgy.
Prosecutors countered that the defendants had discussed kidnapping the governor prior to FBI involvement in the case, according to the Associated Press.
“Today, Michiganders and Americans—especially our children—are living through the normalization of political violence,” Whitmer’s chief of staff JoAnne Huls said in a statement following the verdict. “There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened.”
