As the Department of Justice is weighing whether to indict Donald J. Trump on Conspiracy to Defraud the United State, and aiding an insurrection – an effort to hold Trump directly accountable for his supporters who stormed the Capitol – it is moving ahead by bringing others to account for domestic terrorism. A Michigan man was sentenced today to 16 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to kidnap the Governor of Michigan and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property.
A jury in an earlier trial was unable to reach a verdict. In my view, things have changed significantly in many people’s minds about the Big Lie and the associated, often violent, assaults against institutions and people as the January 6 Committee during the past year presented its devastating case of what went on and who was part of it. Call it a national warming toward protecting our Democracy after the melting of the last Republican ice age. National security is also a critical issue in Trump’s case with his unexplained stolen documents. (See: The Hustings)
Adam Fox, 39, of Wyoming, Michigan, and co-conspirator Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Bear, Delaware, were convicted by a federal jury in August 2022 during an 11-day retrial. Based on court documents and evidence presented at trial, Fox and Croft intended to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation cottage near Elk Rapids, Michigan, and use the destructive devices to facilitate their plot by harming and hindering the governor’s security detail and any responding law enforcement officers.
“They specifically explored placing a bomb under an interstate overpass near a pedestrian boardwalk. Croft was also convicted of possessing an improvised explosive device, which was a commercial firework refashioned with shrapnel to serve as a hand-grenade,” the US Department of Justice said today.
“Mr. Fox, and his confederate Mr. Croft, were convicted by a jury of masterminding a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan and to use weapons of mass destruction against responding law enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Today’s sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s unwavering commitment to protecting our elected officials, law enforcement officers, and dedicated public servants from criminal threats and violence -and to holding the perpetrators of such acts fully accountable under the law.”
Fox is the third to be sentenced of four conspirators convicted in the plot. Croft is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow.* Co-defendant Ty Garbin, 27, of Hartland, Michigan, pleaded guilty in January 2021 and initially received a sentence of 75 months in prison. The district court later reduced to a term of 30 months, or two and a half years in prison, after fully considering his cooperation at both trials. Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford, Michigan, received a term of four years in prison after pleading guilty and testifying at both trials. Co-defendants Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were acquitted at the first trial in August 2022.
DOJ noted that the FBI’s Detroit Field Office investigated the case with “valuable assistance” provided by the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, including Michigan State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan charged the case and conducted the trials, with “valuable assistance provided by the National Security Division’s Counter-Terrorism Section.”
*Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Bear, Delaware, was sentenced on 28 December 2022 to 235 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property, and knowingly possessing an unregistered destructive device, which was a commercial firework refashioned with shrapnel to serve as a hand-grenade.
Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Bear, Delaware, was sentenced today (28 December 2022) to 235 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property, and knowingly possessing an unregistered destructive device, which was a commercial firework refashioned with shrapnel to serve as a hand-grenade. [Five other people are waiting to be tried in Antrim County, Michigan. – Editor]