Two Acquittals, Two Mistrials In Federal Trial Over Whitmer Kidnapping Plot

[discobot]

The weeks-long trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) ended Friday with no guilty verdicts. 

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1412472

[jte]

Either this was outright jury nullification or the prosecutors involved were so incompetent that they need to be reassigned or something. How was a case like this not a bloody slam dunk?

[txlawyer]

In a statement, Whitmer Chief of Staff JoAnne Huls said “There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. . . ."

I’m guessing a key problem for the jury here is that these buffoons talked a big game but never quite got around to committing heinous crimes. Clown car conspiracies don’t necessarily sound like real things to your typical juror.

[castor_troy]

@jte

How was a case like this not a bloody slam dunk?

Fed informants all over it, basically running the scheme from the get-go.

Real case to be made that this was basically entrapment, that the loudmouth idiots at the center of it were a bunch of buffoons who would just be another drunk at the bar raging against libtards except for the fed influence that turned it into a “plot”.

[noonm]

Defense attorneys for the men said they weren’t serious about carrying out the acts they’d talked about and emphasized the role of government informants in the case.

Casually discussing the assault and kidnap of a female Governor is so normalized that jurors don’t find it rising to the level of a crime.

The prosecution, based on hundreds of hours of recordings

Also a good reminder that slow and deliberate preparation is no guarantee of success. Might have even backfired in these cases if it gave juror’s the impression that these co-conspirators liked to BS a bunch about kidnapping the governor, but took little action to do so.

[jonney_5]

Does demonstrate the danger foreign actors (cough,Russia) could pose leading on these idiots in the same way.

Especially when Fox has them so primed for it

[castor_troy]

@noonm

Casually discussing the assault and kidnap of a female Governor is so normalized that jurors don’t find it rising to the level of a crime.

It absolutely is not.

Half the Hive would be in prison right now just off of chats and posts from oh, about January 20,2017- January 20, 2021.

[steviedee111]

@txlawyer

I’m guessing a key problem for the jury here is that these buffoons talked a big game but never quite got around to committing heinous crimes.

Sure, but these sorts of outcomes greenlight similar bullshit among some cliques of knuckleheads.

[grack]

@jte

How was a case like this not a bloody slam dunk?

Did we check the skin color of the defendants? White? Ah.

[jonney_5]

@castor_troy

Half the Hive would be in prison right now just off of chats and posts from oh, about January 20,2017- January 20, 2021.

I always only wished death or incapacitation by (painful) natural causes.

[jonney_5]

@grack

Did we check the skin color of the defendants? White? Ah.

And their political affiliation, Republican… ahhh …IOKIYAR

[txlawyer]

@noonm

Casually discussing the assault and kidnap of a female Governor is so normalized that jurors don’t find it rising to the level of a crime.

How about when the plot is so deeply nonsensical that the jury can reasonably conclude it was never real?

I mean, technically I can enter into a criminal conspiracy to assassinate Fat Donnie Two Impeachments by infiltrating Mar-A-Lignia and replacing his bronzer with anthrax, but does that sound like a real thing to you? Because these buffoons weren’t that much more plausible.

[steviedee111]

@jonney_5

And their political affiliation, Republican… ahhh …IOKIYAR

The Black woman sentenced to six years in prison over a voting error

[castor_troy]

@txlawyer

replacing his bronzer with anthrax, but does that sound like a real thing to you

Considering that my anthrax bottle disappeared from the medicine cabinet after you last visited…

[txlawyer]

@steviedee111

Sure, but these sorts of outcomes greenlight similar bullshit among some cliques of knuckleheads.

I assure you that plenty of other people are bullshitting stuff like this in equally implausible ways. Not to say that they shouldn’t be held accountable for it, but maybe wait until you’ve got something rather more tangible than redneck MAGA losers talking like redneck MAGA losers.

[occamscoin]

The two acquitted did spend 2+ years in pre-trial detention. So that’s not nothing. What about the two who got a mistrial, do they stay in jail while the prosecution figures out what to do next?

[steviedee111]

@txlawyer

I mean, technically I can enter into a criminal conspiracy to assassinate Fat Donnie Two Impeachments by infiltrating Mar-A-Lignia and replacing his bronzer with anthrax

Can a half dozen people enthusiastically plot to kill a President, albeit in a ham-handed and implausibly impossible scheme to pull off, and escape free from any consequences at all if discovered?

[eaharrison]

They were also conspiring to destroy a bridge and murder police officers. But hey, since they didn’t carry it out, no crime was committed – what sort of madness is that? I don’t care if they were high half the time. ALL OF THEM are a danger to civil society. I suspect that the two that were found not guilty will be seeing the inside of a federal court again within five years.

[jonney_5]

@steviedee111

Can a half dozen people enthusiastically plot to kill a President, albeit in a ham-handed and implausibly impossible scheme to pull off, and escape free from any consequences at all if discovered?

See comments above re: Race and Political affiliation

[eaharrison]

Yes, they’re still locked up, will be re-tried.