GRAND RAPIDS (WWJ) -- A federal judge has sentenced Adam Fox to 16 years in prison after Fox was convicted on two counts of felony conspiracy for his role in the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the summer of 2020.
Fox returned to federal court in Michigan's Western District Tuesday morning, four months after he was convicted of conspiracy charges at a second trial in Grand Rapids.
U.S. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nils Kessler pushed for a life sentence for Fox, citing the need to discourage violence against political leaders.
While U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker agreed that Fox's offenses were "incredibly serious," the evidence did not support a life sentence.
"I don't think life is needed to achieve the important public deterrent factors and representational seriousness of what happened," Judge Jonker said in court.
"I do think a significant sentence is needed... a custodial sentence of 192 months, which is still in my mind a very long time for anybody who's -- like Mr. Fox -- never had any experience with criminal law enforcement before."
The 16-year sentence comes with the possibility of supervised release after five years -- conditional on testing and treatment for controlled substances, mental health assessments and Fox's consent to having his person, property and financials closely monitored by a probation officer.
Related
Fox declined to speak in court and had no questions regarding his sentencing or the conditions of his potential parole.
The other convicted "ringleader," 44-year-old Barry Croft, is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday.
Fox and Croft were accused of spearheading the plan to abduct Whitmer from her vacation home in Elk Rapids, Michigan, in an attempt to plunge the state into chaos and incite a political uprising.
The FBI had secretly embedded into the group and broke up the plot with 14 arrests. Governor Whitmer was never physically harmed.
According to prosecutors, Croft offered bomb-making skills and ideology while Fox was the "driving force," urging recruits to take up arms and kidnap the governor.
Defense lawyers for the two men said they were simply “big talkers” who sometimes said outrageous things when they had been smoking marijuana, and were exercising their right to free speech when they became victims of entrapment by an FBI sting operation.
After their first trial ended in a hung jury, Fox and Croft were convicted in August 2022.
In state court, three men recently were given lengthy sentences for assisting Fox earlier in the summer of 2020. Five more are awaiting trial in Antrim County, where Whitmer's vacation home is located.
Related
Related
