GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A former FBI informant in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping conspiracy case shouldn’t be forced to testify in the trial, according to a motion filed by his attorney.
Attorneys for Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. have asked the judge to compel informant Stephen Robeson, described by the feds as a double agent, to testify.
They believe he could be key to proving the government entrapped the four suspects on trial.
“Mr. Robeson, through counsel, opposes this Motion and is respectfully asking this Court to deny the Defendants’ Motion to Compel,” according to Robeson’s motion filed Sunday.
Robeson fears if he were compelled to testify, he could face new criminal charges, his attorney wrote.
If the judge doesn’t compel him to testify, he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, the motion states.
“If forced to testify, Mr. Robeson could well testify that the defendants were very predisposed to commit the crimes with which they are charged,” Robeson’s attorney wrote. “Such testimony would be consistent with the government’s allegations that Mr. Robeson actually assisted the conspirators.
“Such testimony would also be consistent with the government’s opinion…that Mr. Robeson’s testimony could be more harmful than helpful to the defendants.”
Robeson, a long-time criminal from Oxford, Wisconsin, recently told Target 8 that the suspects were not entrapped.
“I don’t have nothing against them, but I don’t know what I can do to help them,” he said. “They certainly put themselves in a position.”
Robeson’s court-appointed attorney, Larry Phelan, wrote that he wasn’t opposed to the judge holding a hearing away from the jury to determine if he should testify.
Phelan told Target 8 that Robeson would appear before U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker on Wednesday for a hearing without the jury. He said defense attorneys will get nothing from Robeson, except his name, if they get him on the stand.