Detroit , A Michigan appeals court on Monday set aside the convictions of two men charged in a 2020 plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Pete Musico and Paul Bellar had been convicted of providing material support for an act of terrorism. Prosecutors accused them, along with co-defendant Joseph Morrison, of playing secondary roles in the scheme.
A different appeals court panel overturned Morrison’s conviction in June, and the court said Monday it was obligated to extend that ruling to Musico and Bellar.
The court ruled on technical grounds, finding kidnapping does not qualify as an underlying violent felony under Michigan’s terrorism law.
Attorney General Dana Nessel called the ruling “linguistic gymnastics” and said her office would ask the Michigan Supreme Court to review the cases.
None of the three men faced charges alleging a direct role in the plot. Bellar had moved out of state weeks before the FBI made arrests in October 2020. Morrison and Musico said they had also cut ties with key figures by then.
All three had belonged to a paramilitary group that trained with Adam Fox, whom federal prosecutors identified as a leader of the plot. Fox is serving a 16-year prison sentence for conspiracy.
Fox and co-leader Barry Croft Jr. were convicted in August 2022 and sentenced four months later to 16 months in prison.
Prosecutors said the group planned to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home just before the 2020 presidential election. Investigators said the conspirators were angry over strict COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Whitmer and officials in other states early in the pandemic, as well as perceived threats to gun ownership.
Whitmer, a Democrat, was never physically harmed. Undercover FBI agents and informants had been embedded in the group for months before authorities broke up the scheme.
The broader investigation produced mixed results for state and federal prosecutors. Five of the 14 men charged were acquitted at trial.