GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Prosecutors in the alleged plot to kidnap and kill Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have asked the court to give one of the defendants in the case a significantly reduced sentence after he decided to cooperate with their case.
They filed a motion in federal court Wednesday asking the judge in the case to grant Ty Garbin a "4-level downward departure" from the typical sentencing guidelines; basically, it's a reduction in the amount of time behind bars he'll serve.
Garbin was charged federally along with four other men for what the U.S. Attorney's Office has called a plot to kidnap and kill Governor Whitmer.
Prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's motion that Garbin had "willingly put a target on his back to begin his own redemption."
Garbin's defense team also filed documents this week to supplement the prosecution's request for a more lenient sentence. They submitted a total of 16 letters of support written by friends and family of Garbin.
The filing also included a brief report by Parents For Peace, a group that works to disengage people from radical ideologies. Garbin had gone to them to undergo sessions with their team.
The report read, in part, "him joining this group was his psyche attempting to make sense of the overwhelming emotions happening inside of him and helplessness he felt from the pandemic. We liken this to substance abuse, where his ideology becomes the drug of choice."
Garbin is set to be sentenced in Grand Rapids federal court on Aug. 25.
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