UNITED STATES: A truck driver from Delaware who was allegedly a co-leader of the plot to abduct the governor of Michigan was given a sentence of more than 19 years in jail.
A day after ally Adam Fox was given a 16-year jail sentence, Barry Croft Jr. was the fourth and last federal defendant to hear his fate. At the second trial in Grand Rapids in August, the two men were found guilty of conspiracy charges.
Before the 2020 presidential election, they were accused of organizing a great conspiracy to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation home. Whitmer and officials in other states imposed tight Covid-19 restrictions during the early stages of the pandemic, infuriating the conspirators, who also saw them as dangers to gun ownership.
Whitmer suffered no bodily injury. The FBI infiltrated the gang covertly and made 14 arrests.
At the second trial in August, Fox, 39, and Croft, 47, were found guilty of two conspiracy charges. Croft was also found responsible for having an unauthorized explosive. At the first trial last spring, a different jury in Grand Rapids, Michigan, could not convict the two but exonerated two other men.
A crucial piece of evidence was the trip made by Croft, Fox, and other members of the cabal to Whitmer’s vacation home in northern Michigan with the assistance of undercover officers and informants.
The attorney for Croft tried to downplay his client’s involvement. Joshua Blanchard claimed in a court document that the Bear, Delaware, the guy did not actually have power over people and frequently annoyed them because he “just kept talking”.
Rep. Joe Tate of Michigan’s state assembly holds a press conference in Lansing after house Democrats approved making him the first Black speaker in state history.
Three guys just received hefty sentences in state court for helping Fox earlier in the summer of 2020. In Antrim County, where Whitmer’s holiday home is situated, five more are still awaiting trial.
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