The verdict against Adam Fox, 39, and Barry Croft Jr., 46, comes about four months after a federal judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan declared a mistrial in the same case. Two other defendants were acquitted in the first trial. The pair, who the government said were members of the Three Percenters militia group, were also found guilty of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction — an explosive device that prosecutors say was intended to hinder law enforcement’s response to the planned kidnapping . Mr Croft was found guilty of an additional charge of possessing an explosive device. The men face the possibility of life in prison. The 12-member jury panel deliberated for about eight hours over two days, according to the Detroit News. In the retrial, prosecutors again used testimony from FBI informants and two key witnesses who pleaded guilty to kidnapping for conspiracy. The conspiracy was aimed at stopping the Democratic governor’s orders to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic, prosecutors alleged. By kidnapping the Governor and putting her “on trial”, they said, the men hoped to plunge the country into open conflict as a disputed presidential election in November 2020 approached. “They wanted to start a second American Civil War and a second American Revolution,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler told jurors during closing arguments Monday. “They didn’t just want to kidnap her,” Ms. Kessler said, referring to Ms. Whitmer. “They wanted to execute her.” Mr. Fox compiled a list of tools, including handcuffs and a hood to cover Whitmer’s head, for the plot, prosecutors said. In addition, a makeshift house was built to simulate the invasion of the governor’s northern Michigan vacation home and her abduction, prosecutors said during the trial, according to the Detroit News. In their closing arguments, lawyers for Mr. Croft and Mr. Fox told jurors that the government’s case was a trap. They said their clients committed no crimes and criticized the FBI’s use of informants in the case, the Detroit News reported. “The FBI shouldn’t exist to make people look like terrorists when they’re not,” Joshua Blanchard, Croft’s attorney, told jurors. The two are among 13 men arrested in October 2020 and charged with state or federal crimes in the alleged kidnapping plot. Seven of them face charges in state court. The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
