JACKSON, Mich. (NewsNation Now) — A Michigan judge on Monday said there is enough evidence for three of the 14 militia members accused of conspiring to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to stand trial, but not on one of the terrorism charges they initially faced.

Jackson County District Court Judge Michael Klaeren ruled there was enough evidence and bound over Paul Bellar, Joe Morrison and Pete Musico to circuit court to stand trial.

“The defendants are joined at the hip here,” Klaeren said before announcing his ruling. “The prosecution did a good job in establishing who knew what and when.”

Musico, Morrison and Bellar will stand trial on charges of gang membership and providing material support to a terrorist act, as well as a weapons charge, Klaeren ruled. Charges of threat of terrorism were dismissed.

Arguments were heard Monday by Klaeren about whether the men should face trial following three earlier days of testimony.

They are accused of aiding six other men who are charged in federal court with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer. Five more people are also charged in state courts.

The FBI in October said it broke up a plot to kidnap Whitmer by anti-government extremists upset over her coronavirus restrictions.

Klareen said there was enough evidence for trial on charges of providing material support for terrorist acts, gang membership and using a firearm during a felony.

The threat of terrorism, providing material support for terrorist acts and gang membership charges each are 20-year felonies. Felony firearm charges carry two-year maximum prison sentences.

According to a court affidavit, Musico and Morrison are founding members of the Wolverine Watchmen, which authorities described as “an anti-government, anti-law enforcement militia group.”

The Watchmen have met periodically for firearms and tactical training in remote areas “to prepare for the ‘boogaloo,’ a term referencing a violent uprising against the government or impending politically motivated civil war,” state police Det. Sgt. Michael Fink wrote in an affidavit.

Klaeren said Monday that Bellar, Musico and Morrison “individually and collectively wanted to precipitate the violence associated with ‘boogaloo.’”

“Pretty much from day one, it’s pretty clear the numbers of the Wolverine Watchmen believed in the ‘boogaloo,’ believed in civil war, believed it was coming,” the judge said.

FBI agents on the case testified, among other things, that the defendants trained to carry out their plan to kidnap the governor in “kill houses” and that Morrison said he “wanted Whitmer’s head on a platter.” An informant who helped the FBI testified that the men were serious about harming the governor and other government officials.

“Pete (Musico) said that this was no joke. This was about putting rifles in front of politicians and police officers faces and pulling the trigger,” the informant told the judge earlier this month.

Defense attorneys tried to show that the men’s statements were not literal, pointing out that no one was ever actually hurt. They also said Morrison left the militia before the plot against Whitmer formed.

Musico, Bellar and Morrison are among 14 suspects who were arrested in October. Eight of the men, including the three bound over to trial Monday, face state-level charges. Six others were charged at the federal level; one of them has pleaded guilty in January.

NewsNation affiliates WLNS and WOOD-TV and The Associated Press contributed to this report; Reporting by Araceli Crescencio/WLNS and Corey Williams/AP