Grand Rapids, Michigan -- In the second trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, Jury selection began on Tuesday. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prosecutors are bringing Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. back to trial after a jury failed to reach a verdict in April. Two co-defendants were acquitted, and two of his previously pleaded guilty.
Dozens of potential jurors from western and northern Michigan appeared in federal court in Grand Rapids.
The plot to kidnap the Democratic governor, according to first trial evidence, involved training in Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as her second home to spy on her second home in northern Michigan. followed by trips.
Fox lives in the Rapids area and Croft is from Bear, Delaware. Evidence indicates that they were in regular contact with Whitmer and other extremists who were angry with various officials.
"This is not a political forum," said U.S. District Court Judge Robert He Jonker in his opening address to the jury pool.
The judge said that "whether you like Governor Whitmer or hate Governor Whitmer" does not lead to conviction or acquittal. "It's not about whether you think it's good or bad policy to hide obligations or vaccine obligations or other responses. It's not on behalf of either of them."
The jury secretly Listen to recorded conversations and review text messages and social media posts that support violence. But defense attorneys will lash out at the credibility of the FBI undercover agents and informants who tricked the group into thinking they were allies.
Fox and Croft's attorneys would argue that they were protected by the First Amendment and were entrapped by the government at every step.
Fox's attorney, Christopher Gibbons, called the kidnapping plot "absolutely ridiculous."
Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were acquitted at first trial. Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks previously pleaded guilty and plan to testify again against Fox and Croft.
Garvin told jurors at the first trial that the target would be a kidnapping between Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump near theelectionto cause national chaos.
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White reported from Detroit. Cappelletti is a Corps member of the Associated Press/Reports for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover hidden issues.
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Find his AP's full coverage of the Whitmer kidnapping plot trial: https://apnews.com/hub/whitmer-kidnap-plot-trial
