Help Composite For The Governor Of Michigan, These Three Men Sentenced To Prison

The governor of Michigan grows Whitmer. (Wikimedia Commons/City of Detroit)

JAKARTA - Three men who were deemed to have played a role in the planned kidnapping of Michigan Governor totaling Whitmer, United States of 2020, were sentenced to prison on Thursday.

The three were found guilty by the jury in October on charges of gang membership, firearms violations and providing material support for terrorism.

Jackson County District Court Judge Thomas Wilson sentenced Joseph Morrison and 12 years to his father-in-law, Pete Musico. The third person, Paul Bellar, was sentenced to a minimum of seven years in prison.

Morrison and Musico can serve a maximum sentence of 42 years in prison, depending on parole under consecutive sentences imposed by Wilson. Meanwhile, Bellar could serve 22 years behind bars.

The defendants "supported violent conspiracies and provided material support for terrorism. They chose actions that were contrary to what made our country strong and safe," Gubernur

During the two-hour trial, the three sat with their lawyers handcuffed at the waist. Each made a statement to the court, saying they regretted their actions.

"I regret ever letting hatred, fear and anger go into my heart like I did," Morrison said, apologizing to governors and law enforcement.

This belief is a victory for state prosecutors who argue the defendants are helping two other men, who were found guilty in federal court in August of masterminding a conspiracy kidnapping.

Morrison and Musico are accused of holding tactical training sessions on their properties in remote parts of Michigan. Bellar is accused of providing tactical maneuver plans, code language, for secret communications and ammunition.

The three were members of a militia group calledten Watchmen, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, the defendant's lawyers argue their clients are unaware of plans to kidnap the governor, and that their actions are protected by the First Amendment and Second US Constitution.

The three men were among more than a dozen arrested in October 2020 and charged with state or federal crimes in connection with a conspiracy to kidnap Governor Whitmer.

The plot was partly due to frustration from the defendants over the restrictions imposed by the Democratic Party politician in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group plans to break into Whitmer's resting house, arrest him and carry him at gunpoint to trial on charges of treason, prosecutors said.

The conspirators hope the kidnappings will lead to violent uprisings and trigger civil war, prosecutors say.

Seven of the defendants, including Morrison, Musico and Bellar, have now been found guilty by a jury or pleaded guilty to their role in the conspiracy. The other two were acquitted of federal charges at the trial in April.

In August, two suspected members of the militia accused of conspiring to trigger a "second American revolution" in the kidnapping plot were found guilty of conspiracy charges of kidnapping. Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted at trial again after the first trial in the spring ended with a hanging jury. Two other defendants were released during the trial.

Fox and Croft are scheduled to be sentenced later this month. They face the possibility of living in prison.