GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – After more than two days of testimony, jurors have unflattering snapshots of four men who are charged with planning to strike back against government by kidnapping Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from her weekend home.
Prosecutors introduced videos, messages and secretly recorded conversations full of antigovernment screeds, mostly expressed by Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, who are described as the leaders. Evidence presented early in what’s likely to be a weekslong trial has bounced from Michigan to gatherings in Ohio and Wisconsin and an arrest in New Jersey – and not always in order.
“The pattern doesn’t always become clear until the end. … Don’t feel pressure to try to pull it all together just yet,” U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker told jurors Thursday.
Croft, Fox, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta are charged with conspiracy; three of them also face weapons-related charges. Lawyers have signaled an entrapment defense, claiming the men were cajoled by undercover FBI agents and zealous, greedy informants.
Trial resumes Monday in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here is some of what the jury has heard so far: