Barry Croft has been sentenced to 235 months in prison, or 19 years and 7 months, for his role in planning the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. His stint in prison will be followed by five years of supervised release.
Prosecutors had recommended a life prison sentence for a co-leader of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan’s governor, reminding the judge that social media posts and secretly recorded conversations revealed a chilling desire by Barry Croft Jr. to spark a “reign of terror” in 2020.
“The judge made his decision. We all have a roles in the system. Mine wasn’t to decide the outcome,” said Josh Blanchard, Croft’s attorney, “It shows that the sentencing guidelines are ridiculous, in virtually every case. Guidelines overstate the seriousness of the offense, and the judge recognized that.”
Barry Croft Jr.’s sentence came a day after key ally after prosecutors also recommended a life sentence for him.
The reason for the harsher penalty was influence. Fox was more active and present as a leader but it was Croft who was the most vocal and most inspiring in his anti-government sentiment. His lawyer said it was framed that way by the government and really his client was high, or drunk, at most times.
“Most of what Mr. Croft said was excluded because the government didn’t want the jury to hear it and so there’s a big piece of this that nobody’s heard,” said Blanchard, “If you take his ideas seriously, then you should hear the rest of it where he talks about walking across the ceiling and multiplying the power of Zoltron by seven. I don’t know what that means but I don’t think he’s an ideas guy.”
Blanchard said once his client sobered up after the arrest, he calmed and didn’t even recognize the ramblings on the evidence recordings. But the prosecution said a YouTube video, posted Tuesday, shows the same anti-government rhetoric.
“I really just want this country to return to the greatness that it could be,” Croft said in the video, “I just want the people who are in power to realize that you keep using this ‘land of the free, home of the brave’ and we’re not that. We lost that.”
“It’s interesting how some members of the media were willing to put money in his commissary account so they could talk to him all the time,” said Blanchard.
Blanchard still believes there were entrapment issues, issues with jury credibility and the rules of the proceedings and so the fight is not over.
“I expect the judge will get a judgment on file today and we’ve got 14 days to file the notice of appeal,” said Blanchard, “Then we go to Cincinnati.”
Evidence showed a scheme to get Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and galvanize other extremists to civil war in other states.
The FBI was secretly embedded in the group and arrested 14 people, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election.
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