(Graphic: WXYZ screenshot)
U.S. prosecutors in Grand Rapids failed to win a nationally watched domestic terrorism case as jurors today acquitted two of four anti-government plotters of conspiring to abduct Gretchen Whitmer, The Detroit News and other media report.
The panel couldn't reach unanimous verdicts on five charges against accused leaders Barry Croft and Adam Fox, so the judge declared a mistrial in their cases. The U.S. attorney's office said it will prosecute them again on charges of scheming to kidnap the governor in fall 2020.
Daniel Harris of Lake Orion and Brandon Caserta of Canton Township were acquitted of kidnap conspiracy. "Best birthday gift ever," Caserta, who turned 35 Friday, is quoted as saying in court.
Harris also was acquitted of three other counts -- conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, possession of an unregistered destructive device and possession of an illegal short-barrel rifle.
It's "a staggering blow to the government in one of the largest domestic terrorism cases in recent U.S. history," The News says in its first sentence.
The mixed verdict provided a biting end to a case dogged by controversy, scandal and the intense focus of a nation grappling with the rise of violent extremism amid the 2020 presidential election and a global pandemic.
A reaction from the governor's office says: "There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened." (Full statement is below.)
'Thought the jury would convict'
Andrew Birge, U.S. attorney for Western Michigan, said his team of prosecutors is disappointed.
"We thought the jury would convict beyond reasonable doubt based on the evidence," he's quoted by The News as saying. "We believe in the jury system. We have two defendants awaiting trial" a second time.
University of Michigan law professor Barb McQuade, a former U.S. attorney in Detroit, tweets:
"Our system is based on the idea that it's better that 10 guilty people go free than 1 innocent person be convicted. Guilt beyond reasonable doubt is a heavy burden & appropriately so. But hung jury means 2 defendants may be tried again. Onward."
Verdicts were read in the federal court where deliberations began Monday after a four-week trial. Two notes from the jury foreperson today said the panel had deadlocked.
"After using the suggestions of the court, we're still unable to reach a unanimous decision on several counts," the jury stated in its second note three hours after Judge Robert Jonker instructed them to stay at it.
Entrapment arguments
Defense lawyers claimed their clients were entrapped by the FBI agents trying to advance their careers and suggested the defendants were just often-stoned weekend warriors -- all talk and no action. A stash of lethal gear could have been for camping, one attorney said while cross-examining a federal witness last week.
Harris, 24, was the only one of the accused to testify during the 15-day trial, and the defense presented only a few witnesses among the 34 called to the stand since the trial began March 8.
Evidence against them included online messages and recorded conversations. They were videotaped practicing an armed assault on the governor's Antrim County vacation cottage and arrested in October 2020 while preparing to buy bomb materials.
Two fellow defendants confessed and testified against them, as did a former ally who prompted the investigation by contacting the FBI when talk of violence unnerved him.
The alleged motive was to spark a "boogaloo" civil war in Michigan and beyond, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said his summation May 1.
'We want her flex-cuffed'
The jury of six women and six men heard earlier about a late-night reconnaisance trip to Whitmer's second home on Birch Lake, three miles north of Elk Rapids. "We want her flex-cuffed on a table while we all pose and get our pictures taken," Fox told an undercover FBI agent who taped the conversation.
Jurors also saw or heard about rifles, pistols, knives, bulletproof vests, a night-vision scope, bomb components and a machete seized by agents.
Brandon Casserta, drilling at a "shoot house" mockup in Luther, a West Michigan village. (Photo: U.S. Attorney's Office)
These defendants have been in custody 18 months on these charges:
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Fox, 38, of Potterville, Mich.: Kidnap conspiracy, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction
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Caserta: Kidnap conspiracy
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Croft, 46, of bear, Del.: Kidnap conspiracy, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, possession of an unregistered destructive device
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Harris: Kidnap conspiracy, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, possession of an unregistered destructive device, possession of an illegal short-barrel rifle
Gov. Whitmer says she's still the daily target of hateful rhetoric. Her chief of staff, JoAnne Huls, issued a statement posted online:
"Today, Michiganders and Americans—especially our children—are living through the normalization of political violence. The plot to kidnap and kill a governor may seem like an anomaly. But we must be honest about what it really is: the result of violent, divisive rhetoric that is all too common across our country. There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened.
"The governor remains focused on her work on behalf of Michigan and all Michiganders. That includes addressing violence and threats to our democracy. We appreciate the prosecutors and law enforcement officers for their work on this case."
A Metro Detroit congresswoman tweets:
Deeply concerned that today’s decision in the Whitmer kidnapping trial will give people further license to choose violence and threats. We need to end the hatred and division in this country, and I’m standing with the Governor and her family today.
— Rep. Debbie Dingell (@RepDebDingell) April 8, 2022
'Michigan will become ground zero'
Law professor Jeffrey Swartz of Western Michigan University also voiced concerns about extremism in a Michigan Radio interview about the case this month. If all defendants are found not guilty, he said, "Michigan will become ground zero for militias and for planning of these type of attacks and for executing those type of attacks."
Kessler, the lead federal prosecutor, began his final remarks by saying there are boundaries when it comes to scorn for people in power.
"If you don’t like your elected representatives, you can vote them out at the ballot box. That’s what makes this country great," he told jurors. "What we can't do is kidnap them, kill them or blow them up. That's also what makes America great."
Separately, eight other men are charged in state courts with providing materials to support terrorist acts and attempting to commit a felony as an associate or member of a gang. A Jackson County trial for three of them is scheduled for September.
-- Alan Stamm
