DETROIT — The ringleaders convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer do not deserve a new trial because they failed to provide credible evidence of juror misconduct or that the judge was biased, prosecutors said in a court filing unsealed Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker unsealed a redacted version of the government's filing, two weeks after lawyers for ringleaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft requested a new trial, arguing the judge was openly hostile toward the defense and revealing that one juror leaked details about deliberations. Fox and Croft were convicted in August of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and are awaiting possible sentences of up to life in prison.
"New trials are reserved for cases in which a 'manifest injustice' has been done such that an innocent person may have been convicted," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler wrote. "The defendants have not met their burden of establishing good cause for a new trial."
