A key conviction tied to the plot to abduct Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer just got tossed by a state appeals court. A three-judge panel on Tuesday vacated the domestic terrorism-related convictions of Joseph Morrison, ruling that jurors in his case were misinstructed and that prosecutors leaned on a misreading of Michigan's antiterrorism law, per the New York Times. Morrison, linked by prosecutors to the Wolverine Watchmen militia and sentenced to four to 20 years behind bars, was found guilty of providing material support for an act of terrorism and illegal gang membership.
The court said the state wrongly used kidnapping as the underlying "violent felony" for the terrorism charge, noting that kidnapping doesn't meet that definition under Michigan law, undermining the verdict. Per the Detroit News, the state law on kidnapping originally included language that indicated someone who was kidnapped had been "forcibly or secretly" taken. In 2006, the legislation was amended to strip any references to force. Therefore, "because the 'use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force' is not an element of kidnapping, kidnapping is not a 'violent felony' falling within the definition of an 'act of terrorism,'" the judges wrote in their Tuesday ruling.
Morrison's attorney called it the most serious due-process breakdown he'd seen in three decades of practice, calling it "a great day when a court delivers justice." Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, whose office brought the case, blasted the ruling as "completely and irredeemably nonsensical, outrageous, and irresponsible" and promised to appeal. "For the panel to declare that kidnapping is not a violent felony strains all legal credibility and insults the intelligence of every person in this state," Nessel said, per MLive.com. Meanwhile, Whitmer's chief of staff warned that the decision risks normalizing political violence, per the Times. The case returns to a lower court, where a new trial is possible.
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