Whitmer case verdicts – 2 acquittals and a hung jury on the other 2 defendants
First of all, although I had followed the Whitmer “kidnapping” case and written about it many times, I had no idea it had already gone to trial.
Just goes to show how much other news there’s been lately.
But I’m pleased to report this result:
In a huge defeat for the U.S. Department of Justice, a jury today acquitted two men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the fall of 2020 and deadlocked on a verdict for two other defendants. The verdicts were announced at the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building in Grand Rapids after more than four days of deliberations; jurors heard 13 days of testimony in a case the government considered one of its biggest domestic terrorism investigations ever.
I’d say it’s a huge defeat for the FBI as well – although in terms of politics the damage was already done to the right when the case first hit the news.
One of the biggest issues in the case was entrapment, and that’s an affirmative defense that’s very difficult for defendants to prove. The deck is stacked in favor of the FBI and law enforcement on that matter. I wrote about the subject at some length; here’s an example.
But in the actual trial, according to Julie Kelly:
Defense attorneys had argued—successfully, it would appear—that their clients were entrapped by the FBI; at least a dozen FBI confidential human sources and undercover agents working out of numerous FBI field offices were deeply embedded in the plot.
Jonker ruled before the trial began on March 8 that defense counsel could not raise the entrapment issue until the government rested its case, but that plan was quickly scuttled when it became obvious the four defense attorneys were unable effectively to represent their clients without demonstrating the FBI’s extensive involvement. To prove entrapment, the defense had to convince the jury that the government induced the criminal behavior and the defendants lacked predisposition to carry out the kidnapping conspiracy on their own.
Against the objections of prosecutors, Jonker notified the jury last Friday they could consider entrapment…
A roster of FBI agents and experts took the stand during the three-week trial…
…[T]wo men charged in the same indictment had pleaded guilty and testified for the government in exchange for lighter prison sentences.
Those two might be kicking themselves right about now.
I agree with the defense here:
…[D]efense attorneys angrily condemned the FBI’s sting operation. “When I look at what happened in this case, I am ashamed of the behavior of the leading law enforcement agency in the United States,” Joshua Blanchard, Croft’s public defender, said during his closing argument. Christopher Gibbons, Fox’s public defender, called the government’s conduct “unacceptable in America. That’s not how it works. They don’t make terrorists so we can arrest them.”
And yet they do it quite often.
Here’s what I mean when I say the political damage was done, which I believe was really the point of it all:
The case produced damaging headlines for Donald Trump in October 2020 just as millions of Americans were already voting for president, including in the crucial swing state of Michigan. During a dramatic speech on October 8, 2020, Whitmer blamed Trump for “stoking distrust, fomenting anger, and giving comfort to those who spread fear and hatred” and for refusing to condemn “hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups.” Joe Biden accused Trump of sending “dog whistles” to white supremacist militias, later telling reporters it was “despicable” and “beneath the office of the presidency” that Trump allegedly encouraged the would-be kidnappers.
And these terribly dangerous “kidnappers” have of course been imprisoned since their arrests:
Harris and Caserta, who have been incarcerated since their arrests in October 2020, were released from custody. Fox and Croft will remain in prison as the government decides its next move.
Will the government keep going with this travesty of a case? I wouldn’t put it past them, although maybe they’ll just let it fade away. And go to the next travesty.
[ADDENDUM: Hat tip: commenter “Griffin.”
Here’s a piece that describes the trial in detail. Please read the whole thing. It’s almost as frightening as the case itself – really, maybe more so. It turns out that the defense was blocked from mounting much of a case at all, whereas the prosecution was given free rein. That was why two of the defendants made guilty pleas as they saw what was going on.
It’s amazing that the jury was able to penetrate the incredibly one-sided presentation and find these men either not guilty or refuse to give a verdict. Once you read the article I think you’ll be outraged at how this was conducted. I certainly am.]
This pretty fair article from Buzzfeed lays out the many obstacles the defense faced and is pretty damning of the tactics used by the feds in both the actual case and the trial.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/a-stunning-surprise-in-the-michigan-kidnapping-case-calls?ref=bfnsplash
If any federal practitioners are reading this, could you fill in the gaps regarding how the defense of entrapment is presented procedurally? The linked article by Julie Kelly doesn’t really add any more at the ellipsis dots in the present post by Neo.
Specifically, I would think that defense counsel would be extremely hog-tied in cross-examining the government’s witnesses if the issue of entrapment were not on the table at the outset. Defense would have to recall all those witnesses in the defense’s case, even if matters related to entrapment had been within the scope of direct examination in the government’s case.
And, one would think that, procedurally, there would be enough historical cases and case law for the judge to know how to allow entrapment to be presented. It seems odd that he apparently had to change his mind on the procedure once the case got going.
Watt,
The Buzzfeed piece I linked goes into the difficulties the defense had thanks to various rulings by the judge.
Pretty amazing that they got two acquittals and two hung juries.
“One of the biggest issues in the case was entrapment, and that’s an affirmative defense that’s very difficult for defendants to prove.” neo
Based on what’s emerged, it was an obvious case of entrapment.
More significantly, the FBI is no longer trusted, by hardly anyone. The Federal bureaucracies have destroyed every remainig vestige of their former legitimacy.
That a politicized FBI is likely to do the democrat’s bidding doesn’t obviate the awareness on the left that, they are dealing with a corrupted bureaucracy and, the corrupt look out for their own interests first, last and always. Which includes slipping the knife into the back of anyone who ever poses a threat.
Please take a look at the addendum to the post.
And thanks for that link, Griffin.
“Hung jury” means to me that there were some brainwashed lefties on the jury who wanted conviction no matter what.
“The government controls the evidence,” Fox’s attorney, Chris Gibbons, said in his closing statement last Friday, “and they can play whatever they want.”
Simply put – why? On what basis was the government allowed to vet what evidence the defense was permitted to show?
Rittenhouse, the Jan 6 aquittal (trial by judge), and now this aquittal. Good news indeed. If race isn’t involved justice can prevail?
Hunter and Durham, who knows?
The article about all that evidence being ruled out of bounds and witnesses being essentially threatened with prosecution if they testified is infuriating.
It almost sounds like the results were jury nullification — and who shall blame them?
Is the any argument available to the defense in other cases that the FBI has demonstrated a systemic pattern of manipulation of evidence, including the precedent of selectively concealing it?
Notice that both men acquitted were defended by public defenders. No high priced lawyers for these guys who are probably indigent. The Detroit FBI office is kind of a shit hole since no one wants to be there. My daughter was assigned there for seven years until she could finally get out. Her FBI academy class was the last of the fiscal year so her choices were Detroit and Brownsville Texas. She only got out because the SAC changed and she got transferred before he could figure out what a dump it is.
A bad day for Garland and Wray’s fascist DOJ.
A few months ago, I said to remember the name Steve D’Antouno. He was the Special Agent of Charge of this entrapment operation. In October of 2020 right after the indictments he was transferred to Washington DC. Then January 6th operation happened. Coincidence?
Juries are the last line of defense. There’s ways they could be better but it’s good they are there.
I believe it was Kennedy who said about the intelligence community; ‘Break them up and scatter the pieces to the four winds.’
You can include the FBI in that.
Mike K —
I’ve never been to Brownsville but it sure must mightily suck if Detroit was the better option.
A few years ago I moved to Texas. Across the river from Brownsville is Matamoros. The mayor of Matamoros had announced the gangs were picking a new leader. Unless noncombatants had business outside the home, they had no business being away from home until the new gang leader had been picked. I didn’t go to Brownsville. I did go to Texas. I wasn’t born here but I got here as soon as I figured it out.
You know what Davey Crockett said about Texas?
The Dem deep state is strong in the FBI.
These FBI tactics to find blowhard cranks who hate the gov’ment, and when such fantasy violence is encouraged to be actualized by the FBI, that’s entrapment.
It’s so relevant to Jan 6. Until it is known exactly how many FBI agents & assets of the Feds were among those at the Capitol and what they did, the public won’t know the truth.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ray-epps-interview-transcript-with-jan-6-panel-to-be-public-at-some-point
Haven’t heard of any release of Epps transcript, yet.
All the top FBI folk should be fired.
We need 10-year term limits on Federal bureaucracy employees. After 10 years, they need to leave government. And new folk need to be hired from outside.
I suppose the short-term solution is for juries to automatically acquit in Fed cases, no matter the evidence shown. Doesn’t’ take a lot.
Or bench trials as in the Freddy Gray (Baltimore) case.
I recall the BATF faking low-functioning guys into something and then arresting them. Holder said that when he found out about it, he stopped it. Which means the evidence was so overwhelming that it was no use lying about it.
I am Spartacus,
That is a fascinating correlation!
Both Brownsville and Detroit have lots of crime. I think the weather in Brownsville might be better. I know of no place with worse weather than Detroit. She was sitting on a surveillance one night when there was a drive-by shooting right in front of them. They had to decide to break their cover and chase the shooters. Tough decision.
Speaking of “drive-by shootings”…
“New Details Emerge on Downtown Sacramento Massacre that Killed Six;
“Police now think instead of a drive-by shooting, it was a gang-related gun battle on a crowded street.”—
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/04/new-details-emerge-on-downtown-sacramento-massacre-that-killed-six/
One can’t believe anything one reads…
(At the very least, one has to always remember AF’s “Three Day Rule”.)
I feel a bit conflicted given what left wing scum the accused were, but this is almost certainly a good thing. The Deep State and particularly the runaway security apparatus are some of the most potent threats to freedom we have, especially with the left in control and happy to abuse it all. The article underlines that. It’s evil. Utterly evil.
I do find it harder to condemn the likes of Putin, Xi, or the Islamists quite as easily as I did when knowing that the Republic probably died in 2020 and is likely not coming back, in favor of this hellish Principate-style Purgatory. But this does give me some hope.
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I feel a bit conflicted given what left wing scum the accused were
The vibe I got was more that they were nutty libertarian types.
Earlier this week I read interviews with someone on the defense team explaining that the awful jury included several who owned guns and others who were “OK” with guns. The horror.
“…some hope…”
Hope so. BUT there are all too many indications that the current state of the union is increasingly authoritarian, a state that is promoted, encouraged and expounded by the Democratic party and its “Who-needs-the-Constitution?” groupies, the guiding principles of which include such moral imperatives as
the absolute need to stamp out wrong-think and wrong-speech…
‘ “Hate Speech”: Linkedin Disables Air-Force Vet’s Account After Criticizing Loan-Forgiveness’—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hate-speech-linkedin-disables-air-force-vets-account-after-criticizing-loan-forgiveness
Therefore: Thou shalt not criticize the Great “Biden” or “his” Glorious administration” or “his” Illustrious policies. Nor shalt thou depart from his Perfect edicts and Most Awesome plans for America’s Golden future. Those who depart from the essential principal of UNITY, who set themselves apart from the WHOLE, who aim to pervert, confuse and confound the American People, should know and KNOW WELL: You will be dealt with according to the FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW. OUR LAW.
File under: Think twice.
A further example of wrong-think, wrong-speak, wrong-write :
“The Biden family scheme unravels”—
https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/biden-family-scheme-unravels/
An absurd and irresponsible article—verging on the criminal—that defies the keystone principle of UNITY so fervently and lovingly espoused, promoted, encouraged and unselfishly demonstrated by the current administration.
How is it possible that anyone believe Joe Biden could be anything but a righteous, upstanding citizen, an uncompromising patriot?
A credit to “his” nation… A visionary… A tremendous force of good for the future of “his” country and the planet…
One hopes that Guantanamo is still open for such people (though Guantanamo would be too good for those who despise—who mock—UNITY…even as they criticize and disparage those who work so tirelessly to achieve this wisest of endeavors).
Plus a WARNING (from someone who very much knows what he’s talking about) regarding all the “new information” purportedly discovered on the infamous laptop…:
“We might want to be wary about purported new info from Hunter’s hard drive”—
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/we_might_want_to_be_wary_about_purported_new_info_from_hunters_hard_drive.html
Key graf:
“…Maxey’s claim that he recovered an additional 450 GB from the copy of the laptop drive is false because a copy based on a drive that originated from John Paul MacIsaac’s image didn’t have this amount of storage capacity in the first place.
“It is technically impossible to recover 450 GB of erased data from a 256 GB drive source….”
IOW, from the Disinformation ‘R Us crowd, could be (just) another well-planned “Unleash the Kracken”-type scenario….
I guess we’ll soon find out…