DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Court of Appeals on Tuesday threw out the conviction of a man who was found guilty of a secondary role in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.
Joe Morrison was convicted of providing material support for an act of terrorism and other charges. In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals court reversed the results on technical grounds, saying kidnapping is not an underlying violent felony that can support a conviction under Michigan's terrorism law.
Morrison, 32, has been in prison since 2022. He was given a minimum sentence of 10 years for three crimes, but the length was subsequently reduced to six years.
State Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, was livid about the appeals court decision, calling it “completely and irredeemably nonsensical, outrageous and irresponsible," and promised to take the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were not charged with having a direct role in the plot to kidnap Whitmer. But they were members of a paramilitary group that trained with Adam Fox, a key figure who is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted of conspiracy in federal court.
Whitmer, a Democrat, was never physically harmed. Undercover FBI agents and informants were inside Fox’s group for months, and the scheme was broken up with 14 arrests in October 2020.
Musico and Bellar were found guilty with Morrison at the same trial in Jackson County. Lawyers for that pair will seek to overturn their convictions in July before a different panel at the appeals court.
The overall investigation produced a mixed bag of results for state and federal prosecutors. Five of the 14 men were acquitted at trial, and now Morrison's conviction has been thrown out.
FILE - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers the State of the State address at the Michigan Capitol Building in Lansing, Mich., Feb. 25, 2026. (Devin Anderson-Torrez/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP, File)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring the method violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks issued the decision a day after an appeals court reversed her ruling that the method is constitutional.
Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas. Lee was scheduled to be executed Thursday at an Alabama prison.
A spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state is reviewing the decision and considering next steps, including an appeal. The case will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has previously let nitrogen executions proceed.
A spokeswoman for Lee’s legal team said they did not have an immediate comment.
In her 26-page ruling, Marks said litigation is a constant in death penalty cases.
“Were Alabama to adopt firing squad as a method of execution, that method would likely be challenged as well. Indeed, there is likely no method — no matter how humane — that would be immune to constitutional challenge. But the Constitution does not guarantee a painless death, and human life cannot be purposefully extinguished without some risk of pain. The Court, the condemned, and the State must all confront that sobering reality,” Marks wrote.
Marks noted that the state has two other authorized execution methods, lethal injection and the electric chair. She said Lee is “not entitled to an injunction barring the State from executing him using one of those methods.”
Marks also ruled that the state could switch to Lee’s preferred method, a firing squad. Inmates challenging execution methods are required to suggest an alternative method.
“The State can readily obtain rifles, ammunition, and other materials necessary to carry out a firing squad execution. Additionally, the State would be able to modify space at Holman to carry out executions by firing squad. The State is also able to source and train volunteers willing to carry out such an execution,” Marks wrote.
Lee is currently housed at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.
A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.
FILE- Alabama's lethal injection chamber at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., is pictured, Oct. 7, 2002. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)
Protesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution in Alabama. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
