Three men convicted of supporting governor kidnapping attempt

Jurors convicted three men on Wednesday in Michigan on charges related to a plot to kidnap state Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The jury members found Joe Morrison, Pete Musico, and Paul Bellar guilty of providing material support for a terrorist act as members of a paramilitary group called the Wolverine Watchmen. All three men were also convicted of a gun crime and membership in a gang. The men could face over twenty years in prison. Sentencing will take place in December.

Wait, but they weren’t involved in the kidnapping plot? Not necessarily. They held gun drills in rural Jackson County with a leader of the scheme, Adam Fox, who was disgusted with Whitmer and other officials and said he wanted to kidnap Whitmer in 2020. One of the convicted men’s attorneys argued that while his client “talked the talk” he didn’t “walk the walk.” Defense attorneys said the men had broken ties with Fox by late summer 2020 when the Whitmer plot came into focus. The men didn’t travel to northern Michigan to scout the governor’s vacation home or participate in a key “shoot house” drill one weekend.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s story from the WORLD archives about social and political unrest in the fall of 2020, when the men were arrested.