Jury hears closing remarks in 3rd trial tied to Whitmer plot

By ED WHITE
Associated Press

Prosecutors are urging a jury to convict three men for assisting the leaders of a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor. They say the men provided land, paramilitary training and inspiration for domestic terrorism ahead of the 2020 U.S. election. Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar are not charged with trying to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. But authorities say their role was critical. The trial in state court in Jackson, Michigan, is an offshoot of the main case handled in federal court. That’s where four people were convicted of a kidnapping conspiracy. Defense lawyers say Morrison, Musico and Bellar stopped associating with leader Adam Fox by late summer when the kidnapping plot was accelerating.