Court sentences man who conspired to kidnap Michigan governor to 16 years in prison

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Michigan sentenced a man who had been found guilty of planning to abduct Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to 16 years in prison.

Adam Fox, according to the prosecution, was the mastermind of a conspiracy in 2020 to kidnap the Democratic governor from her vacation home.

In August, a jury found Fox and a conspirator guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and use weapons of mass devastation.

"There is a need for public understanding of the cost of this kind of wrongdoing and certainly for specific deterrence as well. And there is impact on our overall governmental system, not just physical threat to our sitting governor, it's the emotional baggage that now our governor will have to carry and that she's written about in her report," Judge Robert Jonker said in court before issuing Fox's prison sentence Tuesday.

He added, "And beyond that, it does affect not just the willingness and eagerness of our own governor to continue in office but undoubtedly affects other people who are either in public office or are considering public office."

The maximum term allowed under federal guidelines for Fox's convictions was life in prison, which is what the prosecution requested the judge to impose.

Prosecutor Nils Kessler stated in court on Tuesday, "You could fairly conclude that none of this would have happened if Mr. Fox had not been involved."

A life term in jail, according to Jonker, is not required to serve as a deterrence to possible violence against public officials.

"By advising a term of life in prison applies here, sends a clear message of just how serious a sentence is warranted for Fox. Public officials should never have to worry for their safety, or the security of their families, because of the hard decisions their jobs require. If our elected leaders must live in fear, our representative government suffers," prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.

Fox's defense attorney Christopher Gibbons told the judge Tuesday that the prosecution "overstates the reality of the conduct that has been alleged and what was actually accomplished by Adam Fox in the summer of 2020."

Fox declined to speak on his own behalf at his sentencing hearing. "I'm satisfied with what my lawyer said," Fox told the judge. Gibbons requested in a sentencing memo that the court give Fox a sentence of roughly four to six years in prison, noting that this is consistent with the prison terms given to co-defendants who entered guilty pleas before trials and received lighter sentences for helping the prosecution's case against Fox and other defendants.

The defense attorneys have maintained an entrapment defense, contending that the FBI used a group of undercover agents and secret informants to force the defendants to carry out the conspiracy.

Prosecutors batted down that argument in court, however, noting that Fox has not expressed any remorse. "This defendant is going to go into jail and probably emerge more radicalized than when he went in and will remain a danger to the public," Kessler said.

For Fox, Jonker suggested evaluations and treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues.

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