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Jurors returned Tuesday for their first full day of deliberations in the trial of two men accused of hatching a plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the government’s second shot at getting convictions in a case that emerged just before the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors said some of the best evidence against Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. came from their own words, either written by them or secretly recorded by FBI agents and informants during weeks of surveillance in three states.
Defense lawyers, meanwhile, pounced on the FBI in their closing arguments, linking any scheme to rogue operatives, not a band of anti-government rebels.
Jury deliberations resumed following an afternoon of work Monday. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said there were fans in place, acknowledging that the room was uncomfortably warm because of nearby computer servers, and that breaks for fresh air might be necessary.
During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler reminded the jury how Fox, Croft and others took a night ride to Elk Rapids, Michigan, to see Whitmer’s lakeside vacation home and a bridge that could be blown up to obstruct police.
“Look at how close they were, yards away from her house.
