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A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 27 OcTOber 2022
3 men convicted of supporting plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer

By ED WHITE “shoot house” in Luther,
Associated Press Michigan.
Three men accused of “In this country you are al-
supporting terrorism in the lowed to talk the talk, but
plot to kidnap Michigan’s you only get convicted if
governor were convicted you walk the walk,” Mu-
of all charges Wednesday sico’s attorney, Kareem
in a trial that focused on Johnson, said in his closing
paramilitary drills and fierce remarks.
contempt for government Defense lawyers couldn’t
ahead of the 2020 election. argue entrapment. But they
Joe Morrison, his father-in- attacked the tactics of Dan
law Pete Musico, and Paul Chappel, an Army veteran
Bellar were found guilty of and undercover informant.
supplying “material sup- He took instructions from FBI
port” for a terrorist act as agents, secretly recorded
members of a group known conversations and pro-
as the Wolverine Watch- This combo of undated file images provided by Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, left, and Jackson duced a deep cache of
County Sheriff’s Office, show, from left, Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico.
men. Associated Press messages exchanged with
They held gun training in the men.
rural Jackson County with fruit to recruit more people from the courtroom. Judge “Jackson County is not Whitmer, who is seeking
a leader of the kidnapping to the Watchmen. Thomas Wilson ordered all known to have, I guess I reelection on Nov. 8, was
scheme, Adam Fox, who “The facts drip out slowly,” three to jail while they await would say, liberal juries. never physically harmed.
was disgusted with Demo- state Assistant Attorney sentencing on Dec. 15. They tend to be a conser- Undercover agents and
cratic Gov. Gretchen Whit- General Bill Rollstin told the The verdicts “are further vative bunch,” Nessel said. informants were inside

mer and other officials and jury, “and you begin to see proof that violence and “But I think what they saw Fox’s group for months. The
said he wanted to snatch wow there were things that threats have no place in here was that this is not a scheme was broken up
her. happened that people our politics,” said Whitmer, political matter. ... These with 14 arrests in October
The trial in state court was knew about. ... When you who has not participated are individuals that didn’t 2020.
an offshoot of the main see how close Adam Fox as a trial witness or specta- align themselves with any Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were
case in federal court, which got to the governor, you tor in the state or federal party at all. In fact, they convicted of a kidnapping
produced mixed results: can see how a very bad cases. “Those who seek to were just anti-government conspiracy in federal court
conspiracy convictions for event was thwarted.” sow discord by pursuing all together.” in August. Daniel Harris and
Fox and three others but Morrison, 28, Musico, 44, violent plots will be held ac- Defense attorneys argued Brandon Caserta were ac-
also two acquittals. and Bellar, 24, were also countable under the law.” that Morrison, Musico and quitted last spring. Ty Garb-
Jurors in Jackson, Michigan, convicted of a gun crime Attorney General Dana Bellar had broken ties with in and Kaleb Franks plead-
read and heard violent, and membership in a Nessel, a Democrat in a Fox by late summer 2020 ed guilty.
anti-government screeds gang. Prosecutors said the tight race for reelection, when the Whitmer plot Five of the 14 men are fac-
as well as support for the Wolverine Watchmen was hailed the outcome and came into focus. Unlike ing charges in state court in
“boogaloo,” a civil war a criminal enterprise. praised law enforcement. Fox and others, they didn’t Antrim County, the site of
that might be triggered Morrison, who recently test- After hearing nine days of travel to northern Michigan Whitmer’s second home.
by a shocking abduction. ed positive for COVID-19, testimony, the jury deliber- to scout the governor’s va- A judge there still must de-
Prosecutors said COVID-19 and Musico were emo- ated Tuesday afternoon cation home or participate termine whether there is
restrictions ordered by tional as they watched the and for less than two hours in a key weekend training sufficient evidence to send
Whitmer turned out to be verdicts by video away Wednesday. session inside a makeshift them to trial.q

Los Angeles council disrupted by protest amid racism scandal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The cil “illegitimate.” cording of a 2021 private
Los Angeles City Coun- After multiple warnings to meeting involving then-
cil was forced to recess take seats, council leaders City Council President Nury
Wednesday to clear called the recess to clear Martinez and Councilmen
chanting protesters from the room. That led to some- Kevin de León and Gil Ce-
its chamber, as members thing of a standoff in which dillo, as well as powerful
were poised to formally re- about 20 protesters con- labor leader Ron Hererra,
buke two councilmen and tinued shouting, as police head of the Los Angeles
the council’s former presi- officers watched over the County Federation of La-
dent for their involvement group. Council members bor. They were captured
in a racism scandal. earlier had left the room. on tape scheming to pro-
A small but noisy group Council President Paul tect their political clout in
crowded into the main Krekorian warned the pro- the redrawing of council
aisle of an otherwise mostly testers they would not de- districts in an hour-long
empty chamber, banged ter the council’s business. meeting laced with bigot-
water bottles on a lectern, “We will continue to do the ed, crude comments.
whooped and shouted work of the people of Los Martinez and Herrera have
in what appeared to be Angeles,” he said. resigned. Cedillo and de
Police tape put up by protesters blocks the entrance of Los an effort to shut down the The scandal began earlier León have resisted calls to
Angeles City Hall, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, in Los Angeles. meeting. They unrolled a this month with the release step down, including from
Associated Press
large sign calling the coun- of a previously unknown re- President Joe Biden.q