The defense raised a whole bunch of questions about the way the FBI led their clients down the garden path of sedition. More importantly, the jury seems to have been listening. On Friday, April 8, federal prosecutors were stunned to find themselves empty handed. They didn’t score a single conviction in their case against four men accused of attempting to kidnap the governor of Michigan.
Jury didn’t buy it
The jury wasn’t convinced by the case put on by federal prosecutors over a grueling three weeks. Accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta walked free.
Those two were “not guilty” of conspiracy to “unlawfully seize, confine, kidnap, abduct and carry away, and hold for ransom and reward, or otherwise, the Governor of the State of Michigan.” Regarding the other two, they couldn’t make up their minds, no matter how hard jurors tried to come to an agreement.
Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. aren’t out of the legal woods yet. The hung jury leaves an unfilled blank in the verdict box and it’s up to Uncle Sam to go back and start over again from square one, knowing there are serious flaws in their case.
Merrick Garland’s prosecutors argued that those involved “were anti-government extremists who schemed to violently take down Whitmer for her role in promoting Covid-19 tyranny in Michigan.” If they did, it was only because the FBI put them up to it and prodded them into action every step of the way.
Two other men sang like canaries in exchange for plea deals. That helped the government more than the accused because it helped “absolve the government of any blame in the case.” All along, Michigan’s AG Dana Nessel “smeared the men” with lots of help from the network media.
Patriots are automatically branded as “White supremacists.” The jury didn’t buy the story that Trump’s rhetoric talked them into it. These guys didn’t follow twitter anywhere as near as closely as they did the FBI undercover agents and paid informants. And then, only because the rats kept pushing them to complete the latest assigned task.
‘Manipulated the men’
The jury seems to have bought into the argument raised by the defense that there was a plot to pin the scheme on Harris, Caserta, and others. They presented a whole bunch of evidence that “the FBI deliberately hatched the plot and manipulated the men into joining the motley crew led by government informants.”
District Court Judge Robert Jonker did his best to keep the defendants from talking about entrapment until “after the government argued its case.” He changed his mind when “it became clear that the FBI’s involvement in the ploy could explain the defendants’ participation.”
For instance, “more than a dozen FBI undercover agents and informants were involved in the kidnapping caper.” What makes that even more interesting is that they were “even paid tens of thousands of dollars by the government for their role.” The jury didn’t like hearing that.
FBI rats “served in the key leadership positions of the militia group, trained the militia members in military tactics, actively recruited participants, and funded much of the militia’s activities.” They would have their bottoms glued to the couch if not for the Federal Bureau of Instigation. Not like it would be the first time.
“The FBI’s plot to entrap the men draws strong parallels to the intelligence agency’s attempts to charge and convict a group for occupying federal land in Oregon.” That would be the Bundy bros. Ammon and Ryan.
They, too, “were ultimately found not guilty of conspiracy and weapons charges in 2016 when evidence that the government used at least a dozen confidential informants to exacerbate the occupation.” LaVoy Finicum was also allegedly murdered but the FBI managed to beat that rap. Another jury may say otherwise on that someday.
