Court throws out conviction of man accused of secondary role in Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot

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DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Court of Appeals on Tuesday threw out the conviction of a man who was found guilty of a secondary role in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Joe Morrison was convicted of providing material support for an act of terrorism and other charges. In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals court reversed the results on technical grounds, saying kidnapping is not an underlying violent felony that can support a conviction under Michigan's terrorism law.

Morrison, 32, has been in prison since 2022. He was given a minimum sentence of 10 years for three crimes, but the length was subsequently reduced to six years.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, was livid about the appeals court decision, calling it “completely and irredeemably nonsensical, outrageous and irresponsible," and promised to take the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were not charged with having a direct role in the plot to kidnap Whitmer. But they were members of a paramilitary group that trained with Adam Fox, a key figure who is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted of conspiracy in federal court.

Whitmer, a Democrat, was never physically harmed. Undercover FBI agents and informants were inside Fox’s group for months, and the scheme was broken up with 14 arrests in October 2020.

Musico and Bellar were found guilty with Morrison at the same trial in Jackson County. Lawyers for that pair will seek to overturn their convictions in July before a different panel at the appeals court.

The overall investigation produced a mixed bag of results for state and federal prosecutors. Five of the 14 men were acquitted at trial, and now Morrison's conviction has been thrown out.