Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Plot: Final 3 Of 14 Found Not Guilty

MICHIGAN — A jury has found the final three of 14 men accused in the 2020 plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer not guilty, MLive reported Friday.

William Null, twin brother Michael Null, and Eric Molitor are the last of the men to face charges in state or federal court.

They’re charged with supporting leaders of the scheme by participating in military-style drills and traveling to see Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s vacation home in northern Michigan. The key players, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr, were convicted of a kidnapping conspiracy last year in federal court.

The group of men intended to kidnap Whitmer from her cottage near Elk Rapids and use weapons of mass destruction to blow up a bridge to hinder responding police, according to prosecutors.

They planned the kidnapping plot out of frustrations to the COVID-19 restrictions Whitmer had put in place during the early months of the pandemic, prosecutors said.

Federal agents foiled the plot before Whitmer was harmed and arrested 14 total people in connection to the plot.

SEE ALSO:

• 3 Convicted Of Aiding Plot To Kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer
• Whitmer Kidnap Plot Leader Gets 16 Years In Prison
• Second Whitmer Kidnap Plot Leader Gets Nearly 20 Years In Prison
• Michigan Militia Members Accused In Plot To Kidnap, Kill Whitmer

Molitor, 39, and William Null, 41, testified in their own defense, admitting they had attended gun drills and taken rides to check Whitmer’s property. But William Null said he and his brother broke away a day later when talk turned to explosives. Molitor said Fox was “incredibly dumb” and wouldn’t pull off a kidnapping.

Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin urged jurors to not be swayed.

“If you help in whole or even in part, you’ve satisfied that element” of the crime, Rollstin said in his closing argument Wednesday. “Was he helping him to plan? Was he helping him prepare? The answer is absolutely.”

Michael Null, 41, did not testify and his lawyer took the unusual step of declining to question any witnesses during the trial. Tom Siver said Michael Null did nothing wrong.

Informants and undercover FBI agents were inside the group for months before arrests were made in October 2020. Whitmer was not physically harmed.

Nine men have been convicted in state or federal court, either through guilty pleas or at three other trials, while two have been acquitted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.