The co-leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for conspiring to abduct the governor and blow up a bridge to ease an escape. Adam Fox returned to federal court four months after he and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of conspiracy charges at a second trial in Grand Rapids, Mi. They were accused of being at the helm of a plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election. Their arrest, as well as the capture of 12 others, was a stunning coda to a tumultuous year of racial strife and political turmoil in the U.S., reports the Associated Press.
The government had pushed for a life sentence, saying Croft offered bomb-making skills and ideology while Fox was the “driving force urging their recruits to take up arms, kidnap the governor and kill those who stood in their way.” Judge Robert Jonker said that while Fox’s sentence was needed as a punishment and deterrent to future similar acts, the government’s request for life in prison is “not necessary to achieve those purposes. It’s too much. Something less than life gets the job done in this case." Jonker said he also considered the emotional baggage Whitmer will have to carry due to the plot. “It undoubtedly affects other people who are in public office or are considering public office. They have to count the cost. That does need a forceful sentence from the court.”