JACKSON, Mich. — Three men were sentenced Thursday to serve a minimum of seven to 12 years in prison for providing material aid to terrorists and being members of a gang in connection with the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The courtroom was packed with friends and family of the three defendants, Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison, and Morrison's father-in-law Pete Musico. The men were found guilty in October.
The jury determined that the three men, who all were members of militia group Wolverine Watchmen, aided plot ringleaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft, who were both convicted of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction in federal court. Prosecutors said the men were early joiners and founders of Wolverine Watchmen, which helped train Fox and Croft for their plot to kidnap Whitmer.
Bellar was sentenced to seven to 22 years in prison, with sentences for two charges running consecutively. He received five to 20 years for gang membership, four to 20 years for providing material support to a terrorist and two years for felony firearm.
"I apologize for the highly inappropriate comments I made in the past. They do not represent the man I am today," Bellar said. "I was caught up highly in the moment, I felt I had lost a lot of camaraderie after being discharged by the army."
He apologized to the governor for the "stupid comments" he made and teared up as he left the courtroom.
Morrison was sentenced to 10 to 42 years in prison, with sentences for three charges running consecutively. He received four to 20 years for gang membership, four to 20 years for providing material support to a terrorist and two years for felony firearm. Morrison lowered his head as Wilson read his sentence.
Morrison told Wilson he was renouncing and disavowing everything to do with the Boogaloo movement and Wolverine Watchmen.
"I sincerely regret ever allowing myself to have any affiliation with people who had those kinds of ideas, especially Mr. Fox, who I believe is a danger to society," Morrison said. "I regret I ever let hate, fear and anger into my heart the way I did. … If I could, your honor, I’d take it all back."
Musico was sentenced to 12 to 42 years in prison, with sentences for three charges running consecutively. He received five to 20 years for gang membership, five to 20 years for providing material support to a terrorist and two years for felony firearm. He cried during his statement to Judge Thomas Wilson and as the sentence was read. He called "I love you" to someone in the gallery before he was taken out of the courtroom.
"I had a lapse in judgment," Musico told Wilson, adding he had been married for 26 years. "There were a lot of emotions going on during this time. … I throw myself at the mercy of the court."
Assistant Attorney General Sunita Doddamani asked the judge for the consecutive sentences, which is unusual, but allowed with these convictions. She said she did not ask for that lightly, but that concurrent sentencing is not appropriate in these cases.
"I don't think any of these defendants are going to change their anti-government mentality. It’s who they are, it's their core identity," Doddamani said. "Incarceration by the government for crimes they didn't even think they committed is probably their worst nightmare."
Whitmer provided a letter and video prosecutors played in the courtroom Thursday. All three defense attorneys argued Whitmer’s statement should not be allowed because she was not a victim in the case, but Wilson let prosecutors play the video.
“These three defendants are free to disagree, vote or campaign against me. Instead they took a different path. They supported a violent conspiracy,” Whitmer said. “A conspiracy to kidnap and kill a sitting governor of the state of Michigan is a threat to democracy itself.”
She said since the plot came out, she now scans the crowd for threats, she thinks carefully about the last thing she says to someone before they part and she worries about her loved ones, staff members and police officers on her security detail getting hurt.
The FBI stopped the plot before any violence occurred by infiltrating the militia and using confidential informants and undercover officers to build their case, officials said.
Bellar, Morrison and Musico’s trials were the first test of the strength of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office’s case against the associates of Fox and Croft.
One state case remains for five people in Antrim County accused of providing material support for terrorists and running surveillance on Whitmer’s cottage in Elk Rapids. 86th District Judge Michael Stepka bound the cases over this week to circuit court to stand trial.
Combined, these charges represent the largest domestic terrorism case in a generation that has shed light on political extremism in Michigan.
Seven people have now been convicted on state or federal charges related to the kidnapping plot. Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, co-defendants of Fox and Croft, were acquitted, and other plot members Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy. An eighth individual, FBI informant Stephen Robeson, was convicted of a federal gun crime.
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