Two Allegan County brothers acquitted of charges in the 2020 plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer are suing several people and agencies involved in the case against them.
William and Michael Null filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on Tuesday.
The defendants range from FBI agents and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to the Antrim County village of Elk Rapids.
The lawsuit claims the defendants violated the Nulls’ constitutional and civil rights during the kidnapping investigation.
"The only terrorists in the courtroom were the government, pursuing a frame against the Plaintiffs," the complaint read.
The Nulls were acquitted of providing support for a terrorist act and a felony firearm charge in 2023.
The brothers also claim their lives and business were damaged by the investigation, and by Nessel when she criticized their acquittal.
"Immediately following the jury verdict, AG Nessel continued the government’s unwarranted attacks on Plaintiffs. Nessel announced, the 'verdicts are not what we hoped for,' and doubled down that she had “great evidence” but the 'very right-leaning jurors were not so concerned about the kidnapping and assassination of the governor,'" the complaint read.
The Nulls are being represented by Stefanie Lambert Junttilla, who has also been the subject of charges filed by Attorney General Nessel.
In 2024, Nessel's office announced charges against Lambert Juntilla and former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott for allegedly allowing an unauthorized examiner to access voter data, including non-public voter information, relating to the 2020 General Election.
Earlier this year, those charges were dismissed.
Nine men were convicted or accepted plea deals in the kidnap plot, but three of those convictions were overturned earlier this year.
The Michigan State Police declined to comment for this story, citing a policy against responses to pending litigation.
By the time of publication, neither Nessel's office nor the FBI's National Press Office had replied to a request for comment.
