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Franks Testifies Against Former Militia Member is Whitmer Kidnap Retrial

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Now both men who admitted to plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer have testified against the two men left on trial.

Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks were among the original six men arrested on federal charges for the plot. They both admitted to their crimes and took plea deals. Now, they have both testified against Barry Croft and Adam Fox in court.

If the defense is entrapment, saying the FBI informants and undercover agents were the one who pushed the kidnapping plan, it means they would’ve pushed it on everyone. Two men admitted to participating in this plan and saying it was serious. They took plea deals before the trial even began. Both Garbin and Franks also testified in the first trial when the jury didn’t believe them. 

“Both Mr. Franks and Mr. Garbin came out wearing their jail clothes,” said Chris Gibbons, attorney for Fox, “At the end of the day, they had what they had to say. They have their story and their truth in this case and they offered that today.”

Wednesday the star witness in the Whitmer kidnapping plot retrial was Franks. On the witness stand he did not mince words, he said the plan was real and everybody knew it. The FBI didn’t create the plan.

He admitted he is testifying with the hopes of a lighter sentence and the defense made that known.

“His credibility is up for the jury to decide,” said Gibbons, “I don’t want to comment on it.”

The defense attorneys would have dug deeper if not for time limits.

“There have been concerns aired about how long this case has taken, “ said Gibbons.

Judge Robert Jonker limited the entire defense team to whatever time used by the prosecution. The government  questioned Franks for 50 minutes, that meant the two defense attorneys had 50 minutes total for cross examination.

After the trial left for the day, Josh Blanchard, Croft’s attorney, expressed his concern for the time constraints and not allowing for proper defense.

Franks said he knew the plan was real and ready to die if needed. He was suffering from mental health issues and depression, he preferred it to be a suicide mission.

The defense pushed hard against his suicidal intents.

“The whole point of the cross exam is to get to the truth and so my cross exam was blunt in terms but the reality is my client is facing life in prison,” said Gibbons.

After the jury left, there was also a better look at the schedule going forward. It sounds like closing arguments may begin Friday and finish up on Monday. That is when it will be turned over to the jury for their deliberations.

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