Right-wing extremists Adam Fox and Barry Croft face a maximum sentence of life in prison after a jury found the two men guilty of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, CNN reports. They were also convicted of one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
During closing arguments Monday morning, prosecutors said Fox was the ringleader of a plot to kidnap Whitmer from her summer home and Croft was a part of the plan and practiced detonating explosives in preparation.
“There are a lot of things that are complicated today. There’s one thing that’s pretty simple still – kidnapping is wrong. You can’t just strap on an AR-15 and body armor and go snatch the governor,” Prosecutor Nils Kessler said.
“You can’t snatch anybody, and you certainly can’t make bombs that are meant to maim and kill people. And this case is about a plot to abduct Gov. Whitmer. But that wasn’t these defendants’ ultimate goal. They wanted to set off a second American Civil War and the second American Revolution,” Kessler said.
The verdict is a “clear example” that anti-government views do not justify violence, said David Porter, assistant special agent in charge with the FBI Detroit Field Office.
“Here in America, if you disagree with your government, you have options. You can criticize your government, you can protest, you can vote your elected officials out of office,” Porter said after the verdict. “However, what you cannot do is plan or commit acts of violence. Violence is never the answer.”
Read the full report at CNN.
