3 men have been arrested and convicted for organizing a plot to kidnap the governor.
Joseph Morrison, Pete Musico his father-in-law and Paul Bellar, were found guilty of gang membership, firearms violations and providing material to support terrorism.
The 3 men will be imprisoned for a minimum of 20 years. They are among thirteen men who were arrested in 2020 for the plot to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Prosecutors said the men, who are members of a militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen, targeted Ms Whitmer because she imposed quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They planned to take her at gunpoint to stand “trial” on treason charges and hoped the abduction would start an uprising and a civil war, prosecutors added.
The group held gun drills in rural Michigan with a leader of the plot, Adam Fox, who was found guilty earlier this year of planning to abduct Ms Whitmer from her holiday home.
Lawyers representing the 3 men who were convicted had argued that they were not aware of the plot and were not in g terms with Fox as they had broken ties earlier during summer.
They also argued that the men’s actions were protected by the First and Second Amendments of the US constitution, which relate to free speech and gun rights respectively.
Prosecutors, argued that the “gang was mobilising” and was “ready for action”. The three men will be in jail awaiting sentencing on fifteenth of December as ordered by the judge.
The case is among the most prominent cases involving domestic terrorism in recent years. Five men have been convicted in relation to the kidnapping plot.
