A panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned the convictions of a man serving a prison sentence in connection with a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the 2020 election season.
The three-judge panel determined that the man, Joseph Morrison, had been prosecuted under a flawed interpretation of state law and that jurors had been provided faulty instructions before they deliberated.
Federal and state prosecutors said in the buildup to the 2020 presidential election that they had disrupted a plot to kidnap and possibly kill Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat who had risen to national prominence by criticizing President Trump’s response to Covid-19. More than a dozen men were charged, and the cases became some of the most closely watched domestic terrorism prosecutions in recent history.
But prosecutors struggled to prove their cases in both state and federal courtrooms, ending with a mix of acquittals and convictions. Defense lawyers raised repeated concerns about federal agents’ and informants’ interactions with the men — and possibly influence over them.
Mr. Morrison was sentenced to four to 20 years in prison, but the appellate judges, all appointed by a Republican governor, returned the case to the lower court in Jackson County for a possible new trial. Michael Faraone, a lawyer for Mr. Morrison, said in an email that “it’s a beautiful day when a court delivers justice.”
“In over 30 years of practicing law, I have never reviewed a trial more violative of due process than this one,” Mr. Faraone said.
Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat whose office prosecuted the case, vowed to appeal. She criticized the ruling as “completely and irredeemably nonsensical, outrageous and irresponsible,” adding that it “sends a deeply dangerous message, in a fraught and perilous time.”
“My office will not allow this to stand,” she said in a statement. “We will not downplay violent terrorism, we will not accept violent threats against our elected leaders, and we will not abide the arbitrary defanging of the criminal statutes that preserve public safety and order in the State of Michigan.”
JoAnne Huls, Ms. Whitmer’s chief of staff, said in a statement that “we do not agree with today’s decision, which invites a culture of fear and violence in Michigan and the country.”
Mr. Morrison and two co-defendants were convicted of charges that included providing material support for an act of terrorism.
Mr. Morrison was also accused of illegal gang membership because of an affiliation with the Wolverine Watchmen, a militia whose members, prosecutors said, spoke openly about hanging politicians and harming police officers.
A lawyer for Mr. Morrison raised several concerns about the case against him; the appeals judges seized on the argument that prosecutors had improperly relied on kidnapping as an underlying crime to support his conviction under the antiterrorism statute.
Under state law, the judges found, kidnapping did not qualify as a violent felony, meaning the convictions could not stand.
“Given that the trial court specifically instructed the jury to consider kidnapping as a violent felony and that the jury heard considerable testimony about the plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer, the likelihood that defendant was actually convicted, at least in part, on an invalid basis tainted the jury’s verdict,” the judges wrote.
The three judges on the appellate panel — Mark T. Boonstra, Thomas C. Cameron and Brock A. Swartzle — were named to the bench by former Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican.
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