(The Center Square) – The Michigan Court of Appeals has unanimously overturned the conviction of a man sentenced for his role in the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
In a decision issued Tuesday, the court vacated the convictions of Joseph Morrison, a member of the Wolverine Watchmen militia group.
Morrison was convicted in 2022 of providing material support for terrorist acts, gang membership and felony firearm charges. He was just one of more than a dozen charged in the conspiracy.
The appeals court concluded that Michigan's kidnapping statute does not qualify as a “violent felony” under the state's Anti-Terrorism Act because the current law does not require proof of force as an element of the offense.
“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 court wrote in its unanimous 3-0 decision.
One particular concern for the court was jury instructions given during Morrison's trial. Jurors were told they could consider kidnapping among the violent felonies supporting the terrorism-related charge. The appeals court found that instruction was legally incorrect.
"We cannot determine the extent to which the jury based its conviction on the underlying felony of kidnapping," the ruling said.
As a result, the court vacated Morrison's conviction for providing material support for an act of terrorism. Because that charge served as the basis for his gang membership and felony firearm convictions, those convictions were also overturned.
“His conviction cannot stand,” the decision said.
The court remanded the case for further proceedings, allowing prosecutors to retry Morrison under alternative legal theories without violating his double-jeopardy protections.
Morrison was one of more than a dozen men arrested in October 2020 after state and federal authorities uncovered a plot targeting Whitmer amid opposition to Michigan's COVID-19 restrictions.
Prosecutors allege members of the Wolverine Watchmen militia conducted military-style training exercises, discussed attacking law enforcement and government officials, and surveilled the governor's vacation home.
A Jackson County jury convicted Morrison in 2022. He was sentenced to between four and 20 years in prison on the terrorism-related and gang membership charges, along with a consecutive two-year felony firearm sentence.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, sharply criticized the ruling.
“This ruling is completely and irredeemably nonsensical, outrageous and irresponsible,” Nessel said in a statement. “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.”
Some Republicans have characterized the kidnapping conspiracy as a “hoax.” In a 2022 interview with The Center Square, Morrison’s attorney, Nicholas Somberg, argued that FBI informants and agents played an outsized role in advancing the alleged plot.
“The FBI provided all of the training, ammunition, money, guns, transportation and lodging,” Somberg said. “You have to investigate, not instigate.”
The court’s decision is just the latest twist in the Whitmer kidnapping cases, which have seen several of the original defendants acquitted, have charges dropped, or secure other legal victories both in state and federal court.
Still, Nessel argued the case against Morrison should stand and that her office will seek to overturn the appellate court's decision.
“My office will not allow this to stand. We will not downplay violent terrorism, we will not accept violent threats against our elected leaders, and we will not abide the arbitrary defanging of the criminal statutes that preserve public safety and order in the State of Michigan,” Nessel said. “To restore sanity, protect our public servants, and uphold the rule of law, we are appealing this preposterous decision.”
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