The leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should not be sentenced to life in prison because federal prosecutors overstated his role in the plot and have created a "false narrative of a terrifying para-military leader," his attorney argues.

Attorney Christopher Gibbons said in his sentencing memorandum filed late Friday for Adam Fox that the government had employed "histrionic descriptions" of Fox to overstate "his actual intentions or his actual capabilities."

The filing in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, came after prosecutors told the court Monday in their senten...