The sentence is the longest sentence of the four men convicted on federal charges in the most closely watched domestic terrorism case in recent years.
A man convicted as one of the key orchestrators in the 2020 scheme to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and blow up a bridge in hopes of inciting a civil war was sentenced Wednesday to 19½ years in prison.
The sentence is the longest sentence of the four men convicted on federal charges in the most closely watched domestic terrorism case in recent years.
Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Delaware was described by prosecutors in a federal courtroom in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday as the “spiritual leader” and “the ideas guy” of the plot, which was ultimately undone after a sting that involved informants and undercover FBI agents.
Washington Post reports that Croft and his co-conspirator, 39-year-old Adam Fox of Michigan, were convicted by a federal jury after a second trial in August on two counts of conspiracy, while Croft also was found guilty of an additional weapons charge.
Prosecutors depicted the two men as furious over Covid-19 lockdowns and supposed “tyranny” by elected officials, and poured their anger into a violent plot they were eager to see grow into a bloody “revolution.”
The case has underscored the escalating threat of extremist violence, particularly from the far 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 defence argued that he was less involved than Fox and not viewed as a real leader among the group’s members.
After trial runs at statehouses last year, the far-right’s violent tactics erupted at the Capitol.
Fox was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison, while two more defendants pleaded guilty in 2021 and early 2022 and agreed to testify against Croft and Fox. Another two defendants were acquitted at their federal trial in April.
Fourteen people were eventually arrested by state and federal authorities in an October 2020 sting 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 her security detail and the law enforcement response ahead of the 2020 election.