Michigan court reverses two more Whitmer plot convictions

Michigan’s Court of Appeals has vacated the convictions of Pete Musico and Paul Bellar, the latest setback for state prosecutions stemming from the 2020 plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The ruling, filed Monday, followed a June decision that threw out co-defendant Joseph Morrison’s conviction and held that the same legal reasoning controlled the two remaining appeals winnipegfreepress.

The panel said a conviction for providing material support for terrorism could not rest on kidnapping as the underlying offense under Michigan’s anti-terrorism law. WTVB said judges found that the statute does not legally define kidnapping as an act of terrorism, which nullified the charge used against Musico and Bellar [0]. WOOD-TV said all three men had been convicted of providing material support for terrorism, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison thealpenanews.

Attorney General Dana Nessel said her office will appeal. In a statement carried by The Alpena News, Nessel said the earlier Morrison decision had “legally bound” the latest panel and vowed to take the cases further, arguing that the defendants were part of a coordinated plan to kidnap and harm the governor wtvbam.

The decision leaves a sharp split between the factual allegations in the case and the appellate court’s reading of Michigan law. Michigan Advance said the court relied on the 2006 amendment to the state kidnapping statute, which removed an explicit reference to force, while the terrorism statute still turns on the use or threat of physical force winnipegfreepress.

The reversals do not undo the broader federal case. NBC News said Musico, Bellar and Morrison were accused of secondary roles and were not charged with directly trying to kidnap Whitmer, while Adam Fox, prosecuted as a leader, is serving a 16-year federal prison sentence detroitnews.

The next fight is likely to be at the Michigan Supreme Court. Michigan Advance said Court of Appeals decisions take effect after 56 days, or after the high court acts on an appeal application filed within that window, leaving the three men incarcerated while the challenge continues winnipegfreepress.