Jury selection to begin for 4 men accused in plot to kidnap Michigan's governor

Jury selection to begin for 4 men accused in plot to kidnap Michigan's governor

Transcript¹

A trial starts Tuesday for four men accused of planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The men's attorneys plan to argue that they were entrapped².

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

In Michigan today, a federal trial begins for four men accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Prosecutors⁴ say the defendants⁶ didn't like the public health orders the governor issued to control the pandemic. From Michigan Radio, Tyler Scott reports.

TYLER SCOTT, BYLINE⁷: Prosecutors say the four federal defendants planned to kidnap the governor from her lakeside vacation home in rural northern Michigan just a few weeks before the 2020 election. Three of the defendants are from Michigan - Adam Fox, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. The other defendant⁵ is Barry Croft of Delaware. Two other Michigan men have already pleaded guilty in the case. And at least one is expected to be what prosecutors have called a star witness at trial. News of the alleged⁸ kidnapping plot came after the summer of 2020, when Michigan saw several armed protests at the state Capitol in reaction to COVID safety measures. Court documents charge that some of the defendants were members of self-styled militia⁹ groups. Some of them hoped to see the collapse¹⁰ of government and a second civil war. Governor Whitmer spoke¹¹ out a day after their arrest in October 2020.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GRETCHEN WHITMER: I knew this job would be hard, but I'll be honest - I never could have imagined anything like this.

SCOTT: She thanked the various agencies that investigated and responded to the alleged plot.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WHITMER: I also want to thank Attorney General Nessel and the U.S. attorneys Birge and Schneider and their teams for pursuing criminal charges that, hopefully, will lead to convictions, bringing these sick and depraved men to justice.

SCOTT: In total, authorities charged 14 people with state or federal crimes. In the federal trial starting today, Fox, Harris and Croft are also charged with conspiracy¹² to use a weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors say they planned to blow up a highway bridge. There was also reportedly a nighttime reconnaissance mission that the government says occurred in September of 2020, when some of the men drove up to locate and scope out the vacation home. The FBI used confidential¹³ informants and undercover agents throughout its investigation¹⁴. It's expected that attorneys for the defendants will argue that it was the FBI and the informants who orchestrated the whole so-called conspiracy. That's what defendant Barry Croft said in January when interviewed on a YouTube channel.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BARRY CROFT: Nobody really conspired¹⁵ to do this thing they're accusing us of. It was more the informants who conspired amongst each other to set this up.

SCOTT: The government has to prove to the jury that the defendants agreed to kidnap Whitmer, that they knowingly joined a conspiracy and that there were, quote, "overt¹⁶ acts" taken to plan it out. Barbara McQuade is a former federal prosecutor³ in the Eastern District of Michigan who now teaches at University of Michigan Law School. She notes that while we're in an era where public servants are increasingly facing harassment¹⁷ and threats, those cases can be hard to prosecute¹⁸.

BARBARA MCQUADE: One of the - I guess I'll say lucky aspects for prosecutors is that they were conspiring¹⁹ to commit a crime that I think most Americans are familiar with - kidnapping. So I think the clarity of their plot will make it much easier for prosecutors to obtain a conviction here than it might be in other contexts.

SCOTT: McQuade says entrapment²⁰ is a commonly used defense²¹ in cases where informants gathered lots of evidence, but it's seldom successful. She says the prosecution²² has to focus not on the objectionable words of the defendants but on the actions they took to plan out a kidnapping, actions like the alleged nighttime surveillance of Gretchen Whitmer's property. For NPR News, I'm Tyler Scott.

(SOUNDBITE OF SEA GIRLS SONG, "DAISY DAISY")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 entrapped   

v.使陷入圈套，使入陷阱( entrap的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was entrapped into undertaking the work. 他受骗而担任那工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt he had been entrapped into marrying her. 他觉得和她结婚是上了当。 来自辞典例句

3 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

4 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

5 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

6 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

9 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

13 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

14 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

15 conspired   

密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。
• Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

16 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

17 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

18 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

19 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

20 entrapment   

n.（非法）诱捕，诱人犯罪；诱使犯罪

参考例句：

• The most common structural targets associated with oil entrapment are anticlines and faults. 与储油圈闭有关的最一般的构造目标是背斜和断层。 来自辞典例句
• The purely mechanical effect of glandular trichome exudates is the entrapment and immobilization of small arthropods. 具腺毛状体分泌物的纯机械作用是诱捕和粘住小的昆虫。 来自辞典例句

21 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

22 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。