GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The largest domestic terrorism trial in recent U.S. history ended with no convictions Friday, delivering a blow to a case about a kidnapping plot targeting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that has been dogged by controversy, scandal and the intense focus of a nation grappling with the rise of violent extremism.
Jurors acquitted two accused plotters and deadlocked on two alleged ringleaders after defense lawyers raised questions about FBI agents misconduct and informants who were credited with thwarting the plot.
The verdicts came one year after the first whiff of trouble in the high-profile case, the indictment of rogue FBI informant Stephen Robeson on a gun crime. The Wisconsin man's legal problems were followed by defense lawyers alleging FBI agents and informants orchestrated the conspiracy and entrapped a ragtag band of outcasts who harbored antigovernment views and anger over Whitmer's COVID-19 restrictions.
