Month: December 2022

47-year-old Barry Croft Jr., who was convicted of playing a key role in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison Wednesday. Croft and co-defendant Adam Fox, 39, were convicted in August of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and to use a weapon of mass destruction to attack Whitmer, who drew the hatred of far-right groups for her efforts to curb the spread of Covid in 2020. Fox was sentenced to 192 months (16 years) in prison by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker, and Croft was sentenced to 235 months in a Grand Rapids.

Jonker stopped short of issuing a life sentence sought by prosecutors, but the judge largely agreed with the government’s stance that Croft fueled the plot with dangerous rhetoric. Jonker said: “I do think of Mr. Croft as the more seriously culpable … more so than even Mr. Fox … I think he was the person who gave Mr. Fox something to grab on to,” calling Croft the “idea guy” who egged on co-conspirators with “wrong” and “twisted” ideology.

A jury in April failed to arrive at verdicts against Fox and Croft, forcing a judge to declare a mistrial before a second trial proved decisive. Gov. Whitmer, who won re-election last month, was the focal point of far-right rage in 2020 when she imposed various lockdowns aimed at curbing the spread of Covid. A representative for Whitmer on Wednesday said the governor had no comment beyond a statement she made when the Croft and Fox were convicted, insisting that plots “against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.”

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An avalanche caught four snowboarders on Berthoud Pass west of Denver, burying two and killing one. The 44-year-old victim was the first person to die in an avalanche in Colorado this winter  He and another snowboarder were fully buried when a slope near Winter Park fell. The slope, referred to as “Nitro Chute,” was located at about 11,500 feet.

The Grand County Sheriff’s Office said bystanders and family members were able to rescue one snowboarder but the 44-year-old was dead on the scene. The sheriff’s office shared in a press release: “The second subject, a 44-year-old male, was located and unfortunately, lifesaving measures performed by bystanders were unsuccessful and the male was pronounced dead at the scene. The Coroner’s Office is working with the victim’s family. The decedent’s identity and cause and manner of death will be released by the coroner when appropriate.”

The avalanche on Berthoud Pass was one of several triggered by riders on east-facing slopes the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (“CAIC”) was alerted of on Monday. A snowboarder in the same area of the pass triggered an avalanche earlier in the day. Several areas, including Park Range, Grand Mesa, Elk and West Elk Mountains, and the San Juan Mountains, are in an avalanche watch due to “very dangerous avalanche conditions” developing from Tuesday night into Thursday. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center tweeted: “You can trigger large and dangerous avalanches from below slopes or from a distance so be aware of steep slopes overhead or nearby parties. The most dangerous areas are wind-loaded, easterly aspects near and above the treeline.”

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The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday in a 5-4 vote that it will put off its decision on whether or not it will end Title 42 until at least June 2023, leaving the immigration rule in place until then. The court may consider arguments, largely from Republican-led states, seeking to keep Title 42 in place.  Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch was the only conservative to join three liberal justices in voting against a stay. With the decision, the court will begin hearings on Title 42 in February, with the expectation of making a ruling by the end of June.

Title 42 was established in 1944 to allow the government authority to reject migrants as a way to stop the transmission of contagious diseases. Former President Donald Trump enacted Title 42 in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was on the rise worldwide. With the rule in place, migrants, including some who may otherwise be able to start the process of seeking asylum in the United States, are instead deported in a much quicker manner. President Joe Biden attempted to end Title 42 after pressure from asylum seekers, human rights organizations and a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Nineteen attorneys general from Republican-led states joined to file an emergency motion to keep Title 42 in place.  Justice Gorsuch joined Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson with the opinion that the court should not act as “policymakers of last resort.”  He wrote: “Even if at the end of it all we find that the States are permitted to intervene, and even if the States manage on remand to demonstrate that the Title 42 orders were lawfully adopted, the emergency on which those orders were premised has long since lapsed. The current border crisis is not a COVID crisis.”

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