JACKSON, Mich. — Prosecutors are urging a jury to convict three men for assisting the leaders of a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor. They say the men provided land, paramilitary training and inspiration for domestic terrorism ahead of the 2020 U.S. election.
Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar are not charged with trying to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. But authorities say their role was critical.
“The plan was hatched, nurtured here in Jackson County,” said state Assistant Attorney General Sunita Doddamani. “It's really unmistakable what these men in this case did. They promoted terrorism. They sought out terrorists, and they found them and trained them.”
The trial in state court in Jackson, Michigan, was an offshoot of the main case handled in federal court, where Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of a kidnapping conspiracy. Two other men pleaded guilty and two more were acquitted.
Defense lawyers say Morrison, Musico and Bellar stopped associating with leader Adam Fox by late summer when the kidnapping plot was accelerating.
The jury will get the case Tuesday after a last round of arguments by prosecutors.
