GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After a COVID-19 delay, the four men accused of planning to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are back in court Thursday. Trial began last week and was scheduled to resume Monday.
On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker released the order to delay trial stating, “An essential trial participant alerted the court this afternoon of developing symptoms of and testing positive for Covid over the weekend."
As the third day of testimony gets underway, already a lot of new information has unfolded at trial.
We know that while the four defendants, Adam Fox, Barry Caroft, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, were allegedly putting their plans together, confidential informants and FBI agents infiltrated the group to track their every move. Three FBI agents have already taken the stand and we expect to hear from more of them in the coming days.
The prosecution is expected to introduce hundreds of pieces of evidence - secret audio recordings, videos and text messages. Some of the new evidence has already been shared where the defendants refer to themselves as the "founding fathers" and discuss violence towards law enforcement and government officials.
Each of the four defendants have their own attorneys who will have their chance to cross-examine the FBI agents on the stand Thursday and in the coming days.
Trial is expected to take over a month.