Michigan Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Plotting to Kidnap Gov. Whitmer

Adam Fox, the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison by a federal judge in Michigan.

Fox and an accomplice were found guilty on charges of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in August.

Prosecutors had requested a sentence of life in prison, the maximum penalty under federal guidelines for Fox’s convictions, stating in a sentencing memo that “public officials should never have to worry for their safety, or the security of their families, because of the hard decisions their jobs require. If our elected leaders must live in fear, our representative government suffers.”

However, Judge Robert Jonker said that a sentence of life in prison was not necessary to serve as a deterrent to potential violence against public officials.

“There is need for public understanding of the cost of this kind of wrongdoing and certainly for specific deterrence as well. And there is impact on our overall governmental system, not just physical threat to our sitting governor, it’s the emotional baggage that now our governor will have to carry and that she’s written about in her report,” Jonker said in court before issuing Fox’s prison sentence.

Fox’s defense attorney, Christopher Gibbons, argued that the prosecution had “overstated the reality of the conduct that has been alleged and what was actually accomplished by Adam Fox in the summer of 2020.”

Gibbons requested a sentence of approximately four to six years in prison, similar to the sentences given to co-defendants who pleaded guilty and cooperated against Fox and others.

The defense has consistently maintained an entrapment defense, alleging that the FBI coerced the defendants through undercover agents and confidential informants.

However, prosecutor Nils Kessler rejected this argument, noting that Fox had not expressed any remorse.

“This defendant is going to go into jail and probably emerge more radicalized than when he went in and will remain a danger to the public,” Kessler said.

Judge Jonker recommended substance abuse and mental health assessments and treatment for Fox.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel welcomed the sentencing decision as “a clear message that domestic terrorism will not be tolerated.”

Another person involved in the plot, Barry Croft, is set to be sentenced on Wednesday.

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