David Bridges
JACKSON, MI — The difference between intent and action will be an important question for jurors, based on arguments heard Wednesday in the first hours of a trial for three men accused of providing aid in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Much of the first day of a jury trial for Joseph Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar was dedicated to opening arguments from attorneys on both sides of the case.
“These defendants promoted terrorism,” said William Rollstin, part of the team prosecuting the case on behalf of the Michigan Attorney General. “They sought out terrorists, they found them and they gave them training.”
The most significant “terrorist” aided by the group was Adam Fox, Rollstin said. Fox was previously identified by FBI officials as the leader of the conspiracy. After April proceedings ended in a mistrial for Fox, both he and his associate Barry Croft were convicted Aug. 23 after being retried on charges of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Despite training with AR-15s and occasionally sharing memes seemingly calling for violence against politicians and police, the defendants never actually directed violence toward anybody, said Musico’s attorney Kareem Johnson.
“This case personifies Twitter fingers, not trigger fingers,” Johnson said.
Testimony was heard Wednesday by FBI special agent Henrik Impola, who served as the primary case agent in the investigation into the Wolverine Watchmen. The group, identified by Impola as a “self-styled anarchist militia,” was founded by Musico and Morrison — father and son-in-law, respectively — in November 2019, according to testimony.
The FBI was made aware of the Wolverine Watchmen in March of 2020 after a member of the group — a postal worker and combat veteran code-named “Dan” — contacted police after learning members of the group were serious about committing acts of violence against law enforcement, Rollstin said.
The group, as characterized by prosecutors, was an organization that worked to prepare for the “Boogaloo,” a term which has been identified by the FBI as a far-right, domestic terrorist movement centered on plans for a second American Civil War.
A clip of recorded audio was played in court, taken from a conversation in June 2020 which allegedly depicts Musico stressing to Morrison the importance of getting in contact with Adam Fox.
“This meeting is pertaining to kicking the (boogaloo) off,” a man identified as Musico states in the recording. “This ain’t about us getting prepped and ready to go, this is about pointing rifles at f***ing police officers and f***ing politicians and squeezing the f***ing trigger. This ain’t no joke — this is starting Fallujah in the United States.”
Johnson argued the clip is taken out of context from a larger recording of a conversation with “Dan,” which he plans to play in full later in the trial. Later testimony will put Musico’s actual involvement with Fox’s plan in doubt, Johnson said.
Johnson, as well as fellow defense attorneys Leonard Ballard, representing Morrison, and Andrew Kirkpatrick, defending Bellar, believe the FBI pushed their clients to become involved in the plot in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have.
The trial, which could last up to three weeks, will be livestreamed on Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson’s YouTube channel.
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