World enews: Whitmer kidnap trial: Judge tells deadlocked jurors to go back to work

Jurors in the trial of four men accused of planning to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer returned to the US district judge still deadlocked on some charges. US District Judge Robert Jonker sent them back to reach a decision on the unresolved charges.

The jurors must reach unanimous agreement on 10 charges between the four men. According to The Associated Press, those include one against Brandon Caserta, two against Adam Fox, three against Barry Croft Jr and four against Daniel Harris.

All have been charged with kidnapping conspiracy, while other counts involved firearm and explosive possession.

On Friday, the jurors entered their fifth day of deliberations.

One of the more surprising revelations during the trial was a plot allegedly hatched by the defendants to turn a plastic bag of pennies into a makeshift pipebomb using a firecracker. Prosecutors claimed the kidnappers – specifically Mr Croft – were planning to use the DIY bomb against Ms Whitmer’s security team.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said Mr Croft anticipated the pennies would get so hot that they would sear “right through your skin.”

According to prosecutors, the men who plotted to kidnap Ms Whitmer were entrenched in right-wing conspiracy theories and were furious over the governor’s Covid-era restrictions.

The men’s defense attorneys have argued that their clients were set up by federal agents that infiltrated their group and encouraged them to act out.