Three men accused of supporting terrorism in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor were found guilty on all counts Wednesday in a trial that focused on paramilitary drills and a ferocious disregard for government ahead of the 2020 election.
Joe Morrison, his father-in-law Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were found guilty of providing “material support” for a terrorist act as members of a group known as the Wolverine Watchmen.
Judge Thomas Wilson ordered all three to go to jail while they await sentencing on December 15.
They did weapons training in rural Jackson County with a kidnapping scheme leader, Adam Fox, who was upset with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other officials and said he wanted to kidnap her.
The state court trial was an offshoot of the main federal court case, which produced mixed results: Fox and an ally were convicted of conspiracy, two more men pleaded guilty but two others were acquitted.
Jurors in Jackson, Michigan, read and heard violent, anti-government tirades as well as their support for the ‘boogaloo,’ a civil war that could be sparked by a shocking kidnapping.
Paul Bellar (left), 24, Joseph Morrison (center), 28, and Pete Musico (right), 44, were convicted after a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (Pictured): Verdicts ‘Further Proof That Violence And Threats Have No Place In Our Politics’
Prosecutors said the COVID-19 restrictions ordered by Whitmer turned out to be fruitful in recruiting more people for Watchmen.
“The facts slowly trickle out and you start to see, wow, things happened that people knew about,” Assistant Attorney General Bill Rollstin told the jury.
“When you see how close Adam Fox got to the governor, you can see how a very bad event was thwarted.”
Morrison, 28, Musico, 44, and Bellar, 24, were also convicted of a firearms offense and gang membership. Prosecutors said that Wolverine Watchmen was a criminal enterprise.
Morrison, who recently tested positive for COVID-19, and Musico were emotional watching the video verdicts outside the courtroom.
The verdicts “are further proof that violence and threats have no place in our politics,” said Whitmer, who has not participated as a witness or spectator in trials in the state or federal cases.
“Those who seek to sow discord by pursuing violent plots will be held accountable under the law,” Whitmer said.
Paul Bellar is taken into custody after the verdict in his trial before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson.
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson hears the verdict against Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico
Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat in a close re-election race, hailed the result and praised law enforcement. After hearing nine days of testimony, the jury deliberated Tuesday afternoon and for less than two hours on Wednesday.
Jackson County is not known to have, I guess I’d say, liberal juries. They tend to be a conservative bunch,” Nessel said.
“But I think what they saw here was that this is not a political issue. These are individuals who did not align themselves with any party at all. In fact, all together they were anti-government.”
Defense attorneys argued that Morrison, Musico and Bellar had severed ties with Fox before the Whitmer plot came to light in late summer 2020; Bellar had left the state.
Nor did they travel with Fox to explore the governor’s vacation home or participate in a key weekend training session inside a makeshift “shoot house” in Luther, Michigan.
“In this country you are allowed to talk for the sake of talking, but you are only condemned if you follow the path,” Musico’s attorney, Kareem Johnson, said in his closing remarks.
They couldn’t argue cheating. But defense attorneys attacked the tactics and motives of Dan Chappel, 36, an undercover informant. He received instructions from FBI agents, secretly recorded conversations and produced a large number of messages exchanged with the men.
Chappel, an Army veteran, said he joined Watchmen because he wanted to hone his gun skills. But when he was talked of harming the police, he went to the FBI and agreed to collect evidence for an investigation that eventually revealed a target in Whitmer.
Chappel told the jury that it was “absolutely” risky.
“If I ever got engaged,” he said, “it wouldn’t be a good day.”
Pete Musico, top right, and Joseph Morrison, center, are seen on a video screen as they react to a guilty verdict being read in the courtroom.
Whitmer, who is seeking re-election on November 8, was never physically harmed. Undercover agents and informants were inside Fox’s group for months. The scheme was dissolved with 14 arrests in October 2020.
Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of kidnapping conspiracy in federal court in August. Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were acquitted last spring. Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks pleaded guilty.
Five of the 14 men face charges in state court in County Antrim, the site of Whitmer’s second home. A judge has yet to determine if there is enough evidence to send them to trial.
In 2020, Whitmer blamed then-President Donald Trump for stoking mistrust and fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn hate groups and extremists like those charged in Michigan. Protesters, including many brandishing weapons, packed the state Capitol that year and blocked traffic during a series of stormy rallies.
Whitmer extended the criticism to her election opponent, Tudor Dixon, telling The Associated Press hours after Jackson’s trial that the Republican candidate is “part of the problem.”
A plot to kidnap and murder me has been made light of. Other threats against me and my family have been made light of,” Whitmer said Wednesday.
The governor was referring to Dixon’s comments in September when he told supporters that Whitmer was “good at taking businesses hostage and holding them for ransom.”
Dixon’s reaction to the verdicts was more subdued, saying she is “glad justice has been served.”
