GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — After a full day of deliberations Monday in the federal trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor, the jury broke for the day without having reached a verdict.
One of the defense attorneys said it may have been a good sign for the defendants that the jury did not reach a quick decision.
The jury has a lot to consider. Nearly 40 witnesses were called to testify and more than 400 prosecution exhibits admitted over the three weeks of the trial of Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft, Adam Fox and Daniel Harris.
The jury picked a foreperson on late Friday afternoon after attorneys spent the majority of day presenting their closing arguments.
Jurors called it quits around 4:30 p.m. after their first full day of deliberations. They had been at it for about eight hours. They’ll be back to work Tuesday.
The defense argued the government was the one pulling the strings.
“It’s the federal government inviting citizens they think who are susceptible to a theater where they are giving false senses of who and what they are,” said Christopher Gibbons, Adam Fox’s attorney.
The prosecution argued the four were predisposed to commit the kidnapping.
“They planned to kidnap a woman from her home in the middle of night at gunpoint,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said. “That’s what they wanted to do. It wasn’t just talk. It wasn’t just protected speech.”
Deliberations were set to resume Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
—News 8’s Ken Kolker contributed to this report.