Weapons of Mass Destruction

For John, BLUF:  They aren't guilty until the Jury says so, and the Jury represents the Common Man—us.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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No convictions for defendants in Michigan Gov. Whitmer kidnapping trial

Here is the sub-headline:

Anti-government militia members were charged with hatching a plot against the state's Democratic leader, angry over restrictions she ordered in the early days of the pandemic.

from NBC Newa, by Reporters David K. Li and Mohammed Syed, 8 April 2022, 2:32 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus †hree

A federal jury failed to convict four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whom they despised for the restrictions she ordered early in the pandemic.

The panel in Grand Rapids considered charges against Daniel Harris, 24, Adam Fox, 38, Barry Croft Jr., 46, and Brandon Caserta, 33, all charged with conspiracy.

All but Caserta are also charged with knowingly conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property, in an alleged plot to slow responding police.

Croft and Harris were also charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device.  Harris was charged with possession of a semi-automatic assault rifle that wasn't registered to him.

I want to first deal with the term "weapons of mass destruction".  In my mind the use or the term in this court case, while conforming to current US Law, erases an important line; a line that is between normal ways of killing people and destroying property and the use of nuclear, radiological, chemical and biological weapons, which are expected to create thousand of casualities, and, iin the case of nuclear weapons, blocks of destruction.  See, for example, this Wikipediaa article.

As for the jury, I expect they did their duty in sorting through the facts,  It appears to me that the involvement of the FBI was too heavy in the plotting, thus giving plausability to a defense argument that the defendents were trapped.  Further, this seems to be an action at a time when emotions were high and this "conspiracy" may have just been blown out of proportion.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff