The prosecution now has two defendants who have agreed to testify against their cohorts in the Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot trial.
After trying everything he could to beat the rap, Kaleb Franks has cut a deal with the government in which he will plead guilty to plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and testify against his co-defendants, according to a new court filing. In a 19-page plea agreement filed Monday in Grand Rapids federal court, Franks said neither he nor his co-defendants were set up by the government, despite multiple requests filed by his lawyer in recent weeks, hoping to advance his entrapment defense. Nearly all were denied. Then came this: « The defendant agrees to plead guilty to the superseding indictment, which charges him with kidnapping conspiracy, » states the plea agreement, which also notes that Franks,27, of Waterford township, « understands the crime. » More: Bad acts of 3 FBI agents will not be mentioned in Whitmer kidnap trial More: Feds seek 9-year prison term for Hartland man in Whitmer kidnap plot And perhaps most notably, it asserts the following, which contradicts the entrapment defense that he and his co-defendants have been hammering away at for months: « The defendant knowingly and voluntarily joined that agreement. » And so did his alleged cohorts, states Franks’ plea deal, which harpoons the heart of the groups’ defense: that paid informants who infiltrated their group induced them into saying and doing things that they wouldn’t have otherwise. “(Franks) was not entrapped or induced to commit any crimes by these individuals. (He) also knows (his co-defendants) were not entrapped, based on personal observation and discussions,” the plea deal states. The defendants are: Adam Fox,38, of Potterville, who is accused of being the ringleader; Barry Croft,46, of Bear, Delaware; Daniel Harris,24, of Lake Orion, and Brandon Caserta,33, of Canton. A sixth defendant, Ty Garbin, previously struck a plea deal, got six years in prison, and has agreed to testify against the others. According to his plea deal, Franks “frequently heard Fox and Croft initiate conversations about fighting government authority and kidnapping the governor without prompting. » He also heard “Harris and Caserta express similar anti-government sentiments during his private discussions with them, when no government informant was present.” “During all their months of training together, (Franks) never heard Fox, Croft, Harris, or Caserta say they were doing anything because … Dan … Steve, or any other informant had advocated it,” the plea deal states. « Dan » and « Steve » were the fake names of paid informants who had infiltrated the group. Franks’ filing comes one month before the case is scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids on charges that six members plotted to kidnap Whitmer out of anger over her COVID-19 restrictions. In the last month, Franks’ lawyer had filed multiple requests with the court to advance his entrapment defense — almost all of which were shot down. In his plea deal, Franks offers a detailed look at what went down during four months in 2020, when a group called the Wolverine Watchmen allegedly plotted to kidnap the governor, but wound up in handcuffs as the FBI was watching their every step. According to the plea deal, here is what happened: For four months, between June-October 2020, Franks conspired with five men to kidnap the governor of Michigan.
