95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Feds seek delay in sentencing man in Whitmer kidnap plot

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer attends an event with President Joe Biden in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, March 9, 2022, in Washington. Prosecutors in the trial of four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are showing jurors profanity-filled messages and social media posts on Thursday, March 10, by two of the men, some months before the FBI got involved in the case.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
/
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer attends an event with President Joe Biden in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, March 9, 2022, in Washington. Prosecutors in the trial of four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are showing jurors profanity-filled messages and social media posts on Thursday, March 10, by two of the men, some months before the FBI got involved in the case.

No trial date has been set, though the court filing is a signal that prosecutors aren’t giving up

Prosecutors asked a judge Monday to postpone the June 8 sentencing of a man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Kaleb Franks is expected to testify again at the second trial of Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., the government said.

No trial date has been set, though the court filing is a signal that prosecutors aren’t giving up. A jury on April 8 couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict for Fox and Croft but acquitted Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta.

Franks’ “substantial assistance” could earn him a shorter sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said.

“Postponing his sentencing until after the retrial would allow the court to consider the totality of his assistance in one proceeding,” rather than bring him back for another hearing, Kessler told U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker.

Franks and Ty Garbin testified for the government, admitting their roles in a scheme to kidnap Whitmer from her second home in northern Michigan in 2020. Franks said he was depressed and had hoped to die in a shootout with police.

Defense lawyers for the others, however, said any plot was driven by undercover agents and FBI informants.

Garbin in 2021 was sentenced to less than seven years in prison.

Tags
Related Content
  • A new collection of short stories traces the coming of age of three sisters in Uganda. Author Doreen Baingana address issues of class, religion and cultural identity in Tropical Fish: Stories Out Of Entebbe. She talks with NPR's Jennifer Ludden.
  • Lead singer Karen Peris of The Innocence Mission turns American standards into dreamy, jazzy lullabies on the group's sixth CD, Now The Day Is Over.
  • Kidnappings are the latest scourge in the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti. Despite the presence of a 6,000-strong U.N. force, Haiti has seen a sharp increase in violence and kidnappings in recent months. The interim government, under Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, is desperate to establish a semblance of order before elections in November.
  • Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa becomes first Latino elected as Los Angeles mayor in over 100 years. His rise in Los Angeles politics marks a distinct shift in California's largest city.
  • The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on security for judges, in the wake of attacks in Illinois and Georgia. Witnesses include Judge Joan Lefkow of Illinois, whose mother and husband were killed by a former litigant.
  • Treasury Secretary John Snow issues a strongly worded report that urges China to revalue its currency, the yuan. For 10 years, the Chinese currency has been kept at a fixed rate, making it cheaper to export items -- and more difficult for U.S. manufacturers to compete.
  • Scientists studying the biology of hunger say our cravings for the unhealthy may have a lot to do with evolution. But there's hope, too: Studies of eating behaviors suggest we may be able to lose weight by eating more.
  • A new advocacy group has bought a full-page ad in Monday's editions of USA Today, criticizing America's largest retailer for destroying American jobs by purchasing most of its products from China. A watch group called Wal-Mart Watch launched the operation.
  • Funds will be used to establish The Howmet Center for Sustainable Science and Technology. Its curriculum will center on STEM studies in food processing and food science, teaching an estimated 4,000 students per year.
  • Insurgent violence in Iraq has escalated again, with more than 100 deaths last week -- most recently, a pair of bombings in Iraq that killed at least 20 people. Also, Iraqi officials reportedly move closer to forming a government. The BBC's Baghdad bureau chief Carolina Hawley details the latest attacks and political developments.
  • In its latest attempt to stem file sharing, the music industry has developed a disc format that plays both on DVD and CD players. Joel Rose of member station WHYY reports that a new album by a rock legend is about to shine the spotlight on this technology.
  • Police say gunmen assassinated a top Foreign Ministry official in Iraq Saturday, a death that came on the heels of a car bombing that claimed several more lives. Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Samir Sumaidaie, tells Jacki Lyden about the mounting toll of civilian casualties in his homeland.
  • Twenty years ago, Philadelphia's Osage Avenue was the site of a stunning use of force by city police. Survivors recall the day that a confrontation between police and a radical group called MOVE left 11 people dead. Five were children.
  • In the latest installment of "What's in a Song," our occasional series from the Western Folklife Center about one song and its story, we hear "Songs of the Humpback Chubb."
  • The Mountain Goats' early albums were recorded on a boombox and released on cassette tapes. While their production values have changed, their evocative, pocket-narrative lyrics are the same. Members of the band join Linda Wertheimer for an interview and performance.