A West Michigan jury reached a split verdict on Friday in the cases of Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft, Adam Fox, and Daniel Harris, all of whom were charged with allegedly conspiring to kidnap Whitmer and faced a potential life sentence in prison if convicted. The jury found Caserta and Harris not guilty of the conspiracy charge, and both men were allowed to walk free.

The jury could not reach a verdict on Croft's or Fox's conspiracy charges.

The decision is a major blow to prosecutors who arrested and charged six men in the alleged plot. Two men, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, pleaded guilty to the charge and testified against the defendants during trial.

Jury deliberations began on Monday. Closing arguments in the case wrapped up last week on Friday.

"In America, there's a lot of things you can do. You can criticize the government publicly, absolutely," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler told jurors at the time. "If you don't like the government's policies, you can protest them. If you don't like elected leaders, you can vote them out at the ballot box. What you can't do is kidnap them, kill them, or blow them up."

"Barry Croft drove across the country four times to plan this. Adam Fox came up [to Whitmer's cottage] twice. It wasn't just protected speech," Kessler told the jury, adding the group took efforts to conceal their plan. "They weren't going to protests. They were specifically keeping a low profile so that nobody would know what they were up to."