(RepublicanInformer.com)- A would-be kidnapper of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to a little more than six years in prison on Wednesday.
Last fall, Ty Garbin concocted a scheme to kidnap Whitmer after he was upset about the restrictions she implemented in the state because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Garbin likely got a lenient sentence because he quickly cooperated with investigators to help them build cases against others who were involved in the incident.
Just weeks after he was arrested, Garbin fessed up to his role in the plot. He is one of six men who were charged in federal court for the kidnapping plot. He’s the only one to thus far plead guilty.
In court on Wednesday, Garbin apologized to Whitmer and her family. He said:
“I cannot even begin to imagine the amount of stress and fear her family felt because of my actions. And for that I am truly sorry.”
As part of the plea agreement, the 25-year-old Garbin said all six men involved in the plot trained at a property he owned that was located close to Luther, Michigan. The built what they called a “shoot house” that was designed to resemble a vacation home Whitmer has, and “assaulting it with firearms.”
In the sentencing recommendation, federal prosecutors mentioned how Garbin was exceptionally cooperative. They asked the district judge in the case, Robert Jonker, to give Garbin credit for helping the government reinforce the case they had against the other defendants.
In his sentencing ruling, Jonker said:
“[The] Constitution is designed to ensure that we work out our fundamental and different views peacefully, not at the point of a gun, not with some other blunt force threat or a kidnapping conspiracy.”
The sentence recommended by federal prosecutors was nine years, but the judge went even shorter, giving Garbin six and one-quarter years. Jonker said Garbin was an “excellent prospect” to not get in trouble once he is eventually released from confinement.
One of the prosecutors in the case, Nils Kessler, praised Garbin, saying he “didn’t hold back” when he was cooperating. Kessler said of him:
“He would come out and say, ‘We planned to do this and I was knowingly a part of it.’ He sat for hours answering all of our questions.”
Garbin’s defense attorney, Gary Springstead, said his client “is going to be a star witness” against the other defendants in the case. He then proceeded to tell reporters later that his client “can tell what was in his mind at the time, which is that this wasn’t some fanciful plot. This was real. And he can tell the government why he believes other people had the same intent that he did and show them where to look.”
One of his other lawyers, Mark Satawa, said:
“Ty Garbin testified in front of the grand jury in support of the indictment that got him indicted. He is truly, genuinely and sincerely sorry.”
