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A man who was convicted as one of the key orchestrators in the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and blow up a bridge in hopes of inciting civil war was sentenced Wednesday to 19 1/2 years in prison , the longest sentence of the four men. convicted of federal charges in the most followed domestic terrorism case in recent years.
Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Delaware, was described Wednesday by prosecutors in a federal courtroom in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as the “spiritual leader” and “the idea guy” of the plot, which eventually came undone after a sting involving informants and undercover FBI agents who became integrated with the group of men brought together by their association with the right-wing armed group “Wolverine Watchmen.”
Croft and his co-conspirator, Adam Fox, 39, of Michigan, were convicted by a federal jury after a second trial in August of two counts of conspiracy, while Croft was also found guilty of an additional weapons charge. Prosecutors described the two men as furious over covid-19 lockdowns and the alleged “tyranny” of elected officials, saying they poured their anger into a violent plot they were eager to see turn into a bloody “revolution “.
The case has underlined the growing threat of extremist violence, particularly from the extreme right, at a point of deep political division in the country. Federal prosecutors said the seriousness of the plot made a life sentence for the defendants appropriate. Croft’s defense argued that he was less involved than Fox and was not seen as a real leader among the group’s members.
After the trials took place last year, violent far-right tactics erupted on Capitol Hill.
Fox was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison, while two other defendants pleaded guilty in 2021 and early 2022 and agreed to testify against Croft and Fox. Two other defendants were acquitted at their federal trial in April.
Fourteen people were eventually arrested by state and federal authorities in October 2020 after investigators found the men had gathered weapons, trained and planned to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home in northern Michigan and detonate a bridge to disrupt your security detail and law enforcement. response before the 2020 election.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Andrew Birge detailed charges against six people accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. (Video: The Washington Post)
At Wednesday’s hearing, Croft’s defense attorney, Joshua Blanchard, acknowledged the case’s effect on Whitmer, the public and elected officials, but said Croft’s role did not warrant a life sentence. He described his client as a reclusive truck driver who lived in an echo chamber and went down a “conspiracy rabbit”.
“The government has drawn a picture, perhaps fairly, of Mr. Croft as a radical in the run up to summer 2020. He has said horrible, horrible things. But I can tell the court that sober Mr. Croft finds these things hard to hear,” Blanchard said.
Nils Kessler, a federal prosecutor, argued that even more than his co-defendant, Croft embraced a “poisonous” ideology for which he has yet to show remorse, highlighted by the fact that Croft has continued to give interviews from prison , and on Tuesday night he called the government “illegitimate”.
“He could at least admit that the ideas are wrong, but he’s not because he still holds them,” Kessler said.
In explaining why he did not impose a life sentence, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker said no one was injured and no infrastructure was destroyed.
“The end of the conspiracy was never realized, thank God. And it was never realized because law enforcement will never let it get that far,” Jonker said, referring to the embedded agents.
But the judge also noted that Croft “was on a different footing” than his co-defendants and had been involved for longer in anti-government activities.
“I’m not convinced that what we’ve seen is a significant change yet from Mr. Croft,” Jonker said.
In court Wednesday, Croft declined to speak, on the advice of his lawyers.
Although Croft’s sentencing ended the federal prosecutions of six defendants, several alleged co-conspirators still face state trials. In October, three men were convicted in Jackson County Circuit Court of violating Michigan’s anti-terrorism laws enacted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Pete Musico, 45; Joseph Morrison, 28; and Paul Bellar, 24, were sentenced to a minimum of 12 years, 10 years and seven years in prison, respectively, for assisting in the scheme.
Five other men are awaiting trial on state charges in Antrim County, the area in northern Michigan where Whitmer has a vacation home.