Domestic terror cases come to an end

Man sentenced over plot against Mich. governor

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A man who prosecutors said had planned to travel from Delaware to Michigan to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home and possibly assassinate her was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years and seven months in prison, less than the life term that prosecutors requested.

The man, Barry Croft, a truck driver who had spoken of wanting to foment civil war and had traveled repeatedly to the Midwest for training and planning sessions in the months before his arrest, was the last of the men convicted in federal court to learn his prison term. Judge Robert Jonker of the US District Court in Western Michigan delivered the sentence — the longest for any federal defendant in the case — just four days before Whitmer, a Democrat, was scheduled to be sworn in for a second term as governor.

In court Wednesday, Nils Kessler, a federal prosecutor, told the judge that Croft provided the ideological impetus for the plot and that Croft’s conduct was similar in many ways to the actions of foreign terrorists.

“He’s the spiritual leader of this group, this movement, the same way some sheikh in ISIS might be,” Kessler said. Later, he added that “what ISIS or Al Qaeda calls a mujahedeen, he calls a patriot.”

Croft’s lawyer, Joshua Blanchard, asked Jonker for a shorter sentence. In his sentencing memo, Blanchard said his client was a devoted father with a history of mental illness and drug use. He also stressed that Croft, 47, did not attend some training sessions and was not involved in some of the chat groups through which others discussed attack plans.

“Mr. Croft’s life shows that he is not a lost cause and, if equipped with the right tools, can return to live a productive, law-abiding life,” Blanchard wrote.

But Jonker called Croft the “idea guy” for the plot. The judge said that he believed Croft’s anti-government worldview motivated others and that Croft bore more of the blame than Adam Fox, who was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for his role.

Prosecutors portrayed Fox and Croft as co-leaders in the plot.

Although the presence of federal informants in the kidnapping scheme made the risk to the governor low, Jonker said, it differed from some other terrorism cases because it was “not just ideas and dreams.”

“This group had lots of guns, ammunition, explosives, and training,” Jonker said.

Barring a successful appeal, Croft’s sentencing brings an end to one of the most closely watched federal domestic terror prosecutions in recent history, though some men accused of related crimes in state court are still awaiting trial.

Since Croft and his co-defendants were arrested more than two years ago during the tense run-up to the 2020 presidential election, the case has been seen by many as an example of the rising threat of rightwing domestic terrorism. Those concerns became more tangible a few months after the arrests, when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and tried to block the certification of that election.

When Croft was convicted this August of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, Whitmer released a statement calling for “a hard look at the status of our politics.”

“Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation,” she said at the time, “threatening the very foundation of our republic.”

Undercover agents and informants recorded Croft speaking about a desire to overthrow the government and harm elected officials, and they accompanied him on a nighttime scouting mission to the governor’s vacation cottage in northern Michigan.

Croft also attended training sessions with high-powered rifles and, prosecutors said, planned to blow up a bridge to prevent police officers from reaching the scene of the abduction.

Croft “wanted to do more than kidnap the governor of Michigan, or even kill her,” prosecutors said in their sentencing memo. “He said, ‘I can’t wait for war to come to this land,’ and meant it. Only a life sentence can adequately address Croft’s crimes and deter him and others from pursuing such apocalyptic visions for our country.”

At the hearing, Croft, who was wearing an orange jail jumpsuit with his hands cuffed in front of his waist, told the judge he did not want to say anything before being sentenced.

His lawyer, Blanchard, said after the hearing that his client would appeal.

The Justice Department vowed this week to continue prosecuting domestic terror cases, and Jonker said he believed that federal law enforcement should be praised for how agents had investigated the plot against the governor.

DEFENDANT BARRY CROFT

The truck driver got 19 years, seven months in prison. Prosecutors sought a life term.