Hearing delayed four weeks for key FBI agent in Whitmer kidnap case

An evidentiary hearing for an assault charge against a key FBI agent in the alleged kidnapping plot against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was adjourned for about four weeks Tuesday. 

A prosecutor told Kalamazoo County District Judge Richard Santoni that an officer involved in the case against Richard Trask was out of town and unavailable for the preliminary examination, a hearing held to determine whether there is enough evidence to send a case to trial. 

Defense also mentioned there was a "non-participating complainant" in the case. 

Santoni granted the adjournment of the preliminary examination, allowing for a four-week delay for the hearing. 

Trask, 39, is accused of hitting his wife's head against a nightstand and choking her following an argument related to their attendance at a swingers' party. He was charged last month with assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. 

Court filings in his case indicate Trask's wife had bloody lacerations on the right side of her head and "blood all over chest, clothing arms and hand," as well as "severe" bruising to her neck and throat.

Trask, who was tracked down in the parking lot of a supermarket on Main Street in Oshtemo Township, refused to give a statement about the incident after he was read his Miranda rights, according to the affidavit.

An employee of the FBI since 2011, Trask served as the public face in the agency's investigation of an alleged attempt to kidnap Whitmer and testified in federal court in the case. 

His arrest came as defense lawyers leveled a broad attack on the foundation of the high-profile case and suggested a second FBI agent was trying to sabotage defense teams. Defense attorneys appear to have adopted a strategy that targets in large part the work of FBI agents and claims that FBI informants entrapped men accused in the alleged kidnapping plot.

The defendants in the case have been portrayed by their attorneys as tough talkers who never carried out the planned kidnapping. 

Staff Writer Oralandar Brand-Williams contributed to this report.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com