Whitmer kidnap suspects don't want jury to hear comments in video [View all]

[marmar]

(Detroit Free Press) A man accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said he wanted to kill cops — "as many of those mother f------ as I can" — prosecutors allege, though the defendant doesn't want jurors to hear any of that.



Neither do his alleged cohorts, who are fighting to keep the jury from hearing those comments, which are part of a video that prosecutors want to show jurors when the case goes to trial in October.

According to the government, the video captures defendant Brandon Caserta expressing frustration with law enforcement and government, and allegedly instructing his “coconspirators" that if they encounter police during a reconnaissance, "they should give the officers one opportunity to leave, and kill them if they did not comply.”

The defense argues that the conversation had nothing to do with the alleged plot to kidnap the governor, but was merely tough talk by an angry citizen venting his frustration over traffic tickets.

The defense argues this video is " irrelevant," "unfairly prejudicial," and "has nothing to do with kidnapping the Governor." .............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/07/14/what-gretchen-whitmer-kidnap-suspects-dont-want-jurors-hear/7954135002/