A Michigan jury found three men not guilty in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Friday.
The jury found Eric Molitor and twin brothers Willian and Michael Null not guilty of providing material support to a terrorist act and possessing a firearm in the process. The jury reached their verdict on Friday after starting deliberations the previous morning, following 14 days of testimony.
“You gentlemen are free to leave,” Judge Charles Hamlyn told the three men on Friday.
As the Associated Press detailed:
Outside the courthouse, a juror approached Molitor and “said he was very sorry for all he had gone through,” defense attorney William Barnett told The Associated Press. “The man shook his hand and gave him a hug.”
Barnett said jurors privately told the judge the evidence simply did not add up to “material support” for a kidnapping plot, a key phrase in the charge.
“They went after three peoples’ lives and destroyed them for three years,” Barnett said of the attorney general’s office. “I’m just lost for words. This is an emotional moment.”
Molitor and the Null brothers were the last of 14 defendants to be prosecuted for the alleged plot to kidnap the Michigan governor. Prosecutors argued the men planned to kidnap Whitmer because they felt the governor was infringing on their freedoms while Michigan dealt with the coronavirus’s impact.
However, The FBI became involved in the alleged kidnapping plot after a former member of the group became disgruntled with their message of violence.
As the Detroit Free Press explained in its coverage of a trial for two other men suspected of conspiring in the plot against Whitmer:
The witness who helped crack the case was a former Wolverine Watchmen who told jurors he quit the group after hearing the men talking about killing police, told his cop-friend about it, and then got a call from the FBI asking him if he would go undercover. He agreed, and became known to the group as Big Dan.
Of the 14 tried, eight were tried in Michigan, and six were indicted on federal charges.
With Friday’s verdict from the Antrim County jury, there have been a total of five men acquitted, five men found guilty after trial, and four who entered into plea agreements with prosecutors.
Michigan officials were not pleased with the jury’s decision to acquit the three men on Friday.
“While today’s verdicts are not what we hoped for, the successes we have achieved throughout these cases, in both state and federal courts, sends a clear message that acts of domestic terrorism will not be tolerated in our state,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
Whitmer’s Chief of Staff, JoAnne Huls, claimed the verdict would “further encourage and embolden radical extremists trying to sow discord and harm public officials or law enforcement.”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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