Mixed Emotions

I am of two minds about the jury not convicting conspirators who were planning to kidnap and murder Michigan Governor Christine Whitmer.

On one hand, they were conspiring to commit a truly heinous act, that is clear from the evidence, and on the other hand, it appears, as it often does in FBI "Sting" operations, that the the misbegotten spawn of J. Edgar Hoover engaged in entrapment.

The difference this time is that they brought white defendants before a jury, as opposed to Black or Middle Easterners:

A jury on Friday acquitted two men of all charges in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer but couldn’t reach verdicts against the two alleged leaders, a stunning defeat for the government after a weekslong trial that centered on a remarkable FBI sting operation just before the 2020 election.

………

But defense lawyers portrayed the men as credulous weekend warriors, often stoned on marijuana and prone to big, wild talk. They said FBI agents and informants tricked and cajoled the men into targeting the governor.

There is clearly a need for undercover operations and undercover informants in law enforcement operations, but inducing people to commit crimes that they would ordinarily not commit is supposed to be illegal, it's called entrapment.