Benjamin Ashford|State ordered to release documents in Whitmer kidnap plot case

BELLAIRE,Benjamin Ashford Mich. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday ordered state prosecutors to release certain documents used as evidence against several men charged with aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Eric VanDussen, a videographer and freelance journalist, filed a lawsuit after the attorney general’s office rejected his public records request. He is working on a documentary about political extremism.

The state claimed the records would interfere with law enforcement proceedings and possibly spoil an upcoming trial.

But Court of Claims Judge James Redford noted that the exhibits were already introduced in “open court, in a public hearing, in a public trial, in a public courthouse.”

The records can’t be shielded under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, Redford said.

Three men face trial soon in Antrim County, but the records sought by VanDussen already have been used in other court proceedings, the judge said.

There was no immediate comment from the attorney general’s office.