Months after being exposed as a Federal “shake and bake” operation, the DOJ’s prosecution of the “kidnapping” case against Gretchen Whitmer ended in complete ignominy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly 18 months to the day, Birge\u2019s prosecutors suffered a humiliating defeat in a Grand Rapids courtroom after a jury acquitted two of the men and deadlocked on the guilt of two others. (Two defendants pleaded guilty and testified for the government during the three-week trial). Despite endless resources and favorable rulings by the judge overseeing the case, the government failed to secure a\u00a0single<\/em>\u00a0conviction in what the Justice Department considered one of its largest domestic terror investigations ever.<\/p>
Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, after a year and a half in prison, went home to their families on Friday night; Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader, and Barry Croft, Jr. remain incarcerated while Birge\u2019s office prepares to retry the men\u2014a fool\u2019s errand, as they didn\u2019t know each other prior to the FBI\u2019s involvement in the faux plot and live almost 1,000 miles apart. (Croft resides in Delaware.) It\u2019s a desperate attempt to save face, regardless of the lives and the principles of justice at stake.<\/p>
Not only were jurors unpersuaded by Birge\u2019s prosecutors, the jury instead seemed to believe defense attorneys\u2019 arguments that their clients were entrapped by the FBI. At least a dozen FBI undercover agents and informants, working out of numerous FBI field offices across the eastern half of the country and at the direction of supervising agents, concocted and funded the sting operation. Dan Chappel, the main informant compensated at least $60,000 by the FBI for \u201cbringing people together,\u201d as his FBI handler ordered him, took the stand to explain his role. But his testimony was lackluster and ultimately did not convince the jury the men were guilty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
So, let’s review the facts as we know them today. The “attempt”<\/p>\n\n\n\n