I have skimmed headlines regarding the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. This is not the kind of news that I follow closely, so I hope that readers will catch me up on everything important. Is it correct to say that there was a gunfight in Kenosha among a bunch of white people who had different points of view regarding Black Lives Matter? And there is photographic and/or video evidence of who was pointing guns at whom? How did this evidence come to exist? Were people holding up mobile phone cameras while guns were drawn? Or is the electronic evidence coming from surveillance cameras that happened to be on nearby buildings?
Is there so much electronic evidence that it is possible to reconstruct what happened? (Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable, especially if there is a lot of drama, such as gunshots.)
A kid defended himself against several people out to murder him, including at least one pedophile, and thankfully relieved humanity from their burden.
Video evidence, mostly from bystanders, made it clear that there was never any question, but because he’s white, and against the rioters violence and looting, he’s been demonized by the press and those who don’t know better. The video is abundant and without question.
Prosecution is failing entirely, states witnesses are basically confirming self-defense. Prosecutors might just be going through the motions, knowing it’s unwinnable. They were politically obligated to prosecute though.
The real danger though is that the jury may be scared of riots and retribution if they don’t convict him of *something*. So maybe they will, but it’ll fail on appeal for sure, if the judge doesn’t just declare not guilty.
There were many camera phones, free lance journalists, a few consumer drones and a fixed wing FBI surveillance plane capturing the whole thing. For some reason the high resolution version of the FBI’s footage has been lost. Pretty much everything that happened was covered in high definition by every angle. Kyle Rittenhouse shot 3 people and killed 2. He has argued this was justified due to self defense. Yesterday the only survivor admitted to being shot only after he pointed his gun (which he illegally possessed) at Rittenhouse. After yesterday’s testimony the defense may ask the judge for a directed verdict because no rational jury would convict Rittenhouse. Much of the other testimony the prosecution is using relies on various witnesses interpretation on the above mentioned videos. Typically the defense objects and the judge usually lets the jury come to their own conclusions based on videos.
TS: Interesting that the FBI lost the tape! Separately, I’m surprised that there is a lot of camera phone footage. I don’t think I would call someone a coward who dropped his/her/zir/their phone and ran away once guns were drawn.
@Philg: I haven’t followed it very closely but Toucan Sam recapitulates what I’ve read so far, including from this source. Now, this is RedState’s Nick Arama talking, so take it with a grain of salt – because lunatic conservative bias – but there may be some details you’d like to read.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/11/09/directed-verdict-and-big-problems-for-the-prosecution-in-the-rittenhouse-case-n472233
Creatively losing evidence is FBI’s daily bread and butter. That three-letter org is as corrupt as they come. (They actually tried to recruit me, LOL… I survived the interest of their less politically correct sibling, the KGB. FBI agent’s performance was, ahem, way unimpressive, compared. Напугали ежа голой жопой, хехе.)
@averros: > Creatively losing evidence is FBI’s daily bread and butter.
Of course, nobody remembers that the FBI also “creatively lost” the detailed tip line phone call telling them all about Nikolas Cruz and his plans to shoot up a school, two months in advance of the shooting at MSD high school in Florida. That one just “slipped through the cracks” somehow and never got forwarded to the Miami Field Office for follow-up investigation. A few years before, James Comey himself issued a public apology over the handling of the background gun check records of Dylann Roof.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-comey-regarding-dylann-roof-gun-purchase
Another big “Oops” that was a key contributing factor that Roof was able to purchase a long gun and carry out the Charleston Church Shooting.
Well, nobody remembers them except myself and a handful of other high-information people. But if you walk up to the Average American after all the news coverage of the MSD high school shooting and ask them: “Didn’t the FBI know about Nikolas Cruz and his intentions a couple months in advance?” they look at you like you’re trying to pull their leg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting#Earlier_warnings_to_law_enforcement
There’s a lot of camera footage always, people are really stupid. They film incoming tsunami from the beach ffs, what’s a little shooting nearby.
Now that I’m thinking about this a little more, I’m curious to know how white people got angry enough to start pointing guns at each other, given that the issue in question did not directly concern them. Maybe the folks who were interacting had Black neighbors and friends? https://apnews.com/article/3f01f685624d4015be46dbbcc8e59580 says that Wisconsin is the least integrated state in the U.S. (see https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-most-and-least-racial-progress/18428#rankings-integration for a more detailed ranking, which I’m not sure that I believe because Maskachusetts is somewhere in the middle and it is rare for a suburbanite with a BLM sign to encounter an actual Black human).
You think the riots last year were primarily about black a/k/a Black people? That that is why a portion of the country ran amuck encouraged by elected officials in many states? That some people thought that rioting would help black people?
In software development there are people working at FAANG with no direct contacts to Black people (or to the outside world for that matter …), riling themselves up on Twitter and purging anyone who does not bow to CRT (these people of course keep their stock options and money for themselves).
So Black contact is no requirement, one only needs an iPhone and enough time. Internet companies enjoy fanning the flames for clicks and cheaper remote labor.
(Haven’t white people pointed guns at each other in the civil war after an awakening? I’m curious what CRT says about the inherent racism of the 300,000+ white Union soldiers who perished for Black people …)
Why did white people get so angry to start shooting each other:
The person who started it (Rosenbaum) was mentally ill, and as if in a script to a mediocre TV movie, had literally been discharged from a psychiatric hospital that morning. He did not seem to have any particular passion for BLM, given his frequent use of the N word. He was there to go crazy and burn stuff. That made him angry when other white people put out his fires, so he tried to kill the youngest of the white people once he was alone.
After he was shot and killed, then it became rioters trying to kill or at least maim him as revenge for taking out a fellow rioter.
I should say that I largely disregarded the right wing media that was treating this kid as a saint prior to the trial, and have followed the trial very closely to find out what really happened. Now that the state has rested its case, I can say with certainty that what really happened was self defense and his prosecution is entirely political.
I was under the impression that as an unsupervised minor Rittenhouse had no right to carry a rifle, and he was thus committing a felony. Based on this fact alone I fail to see how he can avoid going to jail for forever since the events leading to the deaths of two people and shooting of a third are caused by his breaking the law in the first place.
The judge threw out the “curfew” charges (aka being “an unsupervised minor”) today after the prosecution rested. The reason is the prosecution did not provide any evidence to this charge. Where in the second amendment does it say only adults have a right to bear arms? The rules of a minor open carrying in Wisconsin are very murky. Even if Rittenhouse is guilty of some weapons charge (which he is not) he still does not loose the right to defend himself. By your legal theory Jacob Blake should go to jail for the rest of his life as it was his “illegal” action that caused all of this!
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-11-02/explainer-what-charges-does-kyle-rittenhouse-face says that carrying a “dangerous weapon” under age 18 is “a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months behind bars”, not a felony.
On the larger issue, if we say that children don’t need to carry rifles for personal protection that contradicts our migration religion. Folks who walk across the southern border are entitled to asylum because they are “fleeing violence” and their home countries are too violent for anyone to occupy safely. But there are plenty of U.S. cities that are statistically more dangerous than the countries that we say are violent enough to justify migration, asylum, citizenship, and 3 generations of taxpayer-funded housing, health care, food, and smartphone. If violence level X justifies fleeing, which of course it does, then shouldn’t violence level 2X (as prevails in many U.S. cities and, no doubt, in Kenosha during the peaceful BLM protest) justify carrying a dangerous weapon for personal protection?
Weapon charges against Kyle Rittenhouse were brought early on by local Kenosha authorities and were thrown out by court, apparently he did not break local gun laws. Not sure whether he broke any US gun law, self-defense by AR-15 armed teenagers in their own dwellings has happened a few times. He did not acquire his rifle illegally neither.
Toucan, the laws about minors carrying guns is only “murky” for white people. It’s the height of American stupidity to suggest that someone who can’t buy tobacco and is years away from legally purchasing alcohol is mature enough to open carry outside of hunting. There was zero legitimate reason for him to have a gun there. What was he going to do, tell vandals to stop, or he’ll say stop again? He was in no position to accomplish anything positive. He’s a little bitch who went looking for a fight, to antagonize, and mission accomplished. He broke the law by carrying a gun to a fight he had no reasonable reason to be at. If he hadn’t illegally brought that gun, he never would have been there, and three people wouldn’t have died and another a quadrapeligoc. His bravado began and ended with that gun. He should have stayed home and played more call of duty. In many states, a death resulting from the commission of a felony is charged as first degree murder, regardless of the intent. It’s all fun and games until the minorites start open carrying. We’ve seen what happens then, even Regan didn’t have the stomach to stand by the 2nd amendment when that happened in CA during the 60’s.
@seniorpablo
Toucan, the laws about minors carrying guns is only “murky” for white people.
>Kyle is white!
There was zero legitimate reason for him to have a gun there.
>One “legitimate” use of having the gun is for self defense!
He was in no position to accomplish anything positive.
>killing 2 bad guys could be considered a positive!
He broke the law by carrying a gun to a fight he had no reasonable reason to be at. If he hadn’t illegally brought that gun, he never would have been there, and three people wouldn’t have died and another a quadrapeligoc.
>this is not true. He didn’t break any law by carrying a gun. Only 2 people died and nobody became a “quadrapeligoc” or even quadriplegic!
In many states, a death resulting from the commission of a felony is charged as first degree murder, regardless of the intent.
>Even if he did violate some weapon law there is no way it would be a felony.
#Senorpablo , get a live.
And visit public ranges or gun stores in America. Black and other non-white teenagers are broadly represented in US shooting sport and use AR-15 rifles.
Senorpablo, is your advise to play call of duty applies the the rioters? Rittenhouse appeared to be the most competent person with the firearm in the whole riot. Only attackers were hurt, no bystanders were hurt and only few times his weapon was discharged. Kyle Rittenhouse belongs to green beret training school.
@senorpablo
Refer to this tweet, about the Virginia Lt Governor election
https://twitter.com/politicalmath/status/1455776950270709760
If given the choice between a black woman with an assault rifle and a white man lecturing you on pronouns, you may be surprised to learn that republicans want the black woman to train her sights on the white man
I think it’s important to clarify here why a lot of people want firearms – particularly handguns but also shotguns as home defense weapons, because it is not just the danger of some of our urban areas.
First off, full disclosure: I was a member of an organized varsity competition rifle team during high school and shot thousands of rounds in dozens of places with real guns, along with lots of other adolescents from 15-19 years old. After high school, I moved between several big cities and never owned, possessed or touched a firearm (although I was held up at gunpoint in Baltimore.) Once having fired guns is not a “gateway drug” in other words. I didn’t feel I needed one, it wasn’t an active interest of mine for a long time, and it would have been difficult or impossible to obtain one, particularly in Chicago, where it is illegal to legally possess a slingshot. A firearm is no good to someone who isn’t a collector (and I don’t count myself as one) unless you can practice with it. It’s an acquired and perishable skill.
When I moved to where I currently live, a semirural area of Massachusetts, I noticed almost upon arrival that one of the larger “civic organizations” was the local Rod and Gun Club. I decided to look into what was involved in getting a firearms license here, including an LTC, which comes in two flavors, Class A and Class B Restricted, and the final category of license you receive after all the background checks, etc., is determined by your local Chief of Police.
Well, after a couple of years I took the steps to get my license. In the process I learned all about Massachusetts and Federal gun laws, reciprocity, Stand Your Ground (which MA is NOT), the use of Lethal Force, and a good deal more. I took the required course, I submitted all the materials, got fingerprinted, was photographed, did the state and national background check (which takes about three months and is done by the State Police in MA) and obtained my Class A LTC High Capacity for “All Lawful Purposes” license. However, I did not rush right out and buy a gun. I visited the Rod and Gun Club a few times and got to know some of the folks at their events, but I didn’t feel the impetus to actually buy a gun until we had to evict a deadbeat tenant, who we discovered was wanted (and hiding from) State Superior Court on a case involving an attempted murder. He was a very difficult tenant to evict, but we were able to obtain the “execution order” from the housing court in part because he also did not show up for court, lest he get arrested! As Gomer Pyle once said: “Surprise, surprise, surprise!!”
I called the man who had conducted my NRA Basic Pistol with Live Fire course, who was also a licensed FFL dealer, and told him I wanted to buy a good self-defense pistol and maybe a shotgun. I told him the story and the first thing he said was: “Yeah. If he attempted it once he might attempt it again.” My thinking exactly.
Where I live, at the time, the local police were only on duty four days out of the week in the evenings. After that, in the event of an emergency, you’re calling the dispatch center and waiting for the State Police to be summoned from their barracks, with the associated response and trip time that entails, and the bad guys knew that.
The sad but true of it is, especially in semirural areas like mine: in a lot of cases, the police can’t do anything to prevent someone from harming you. They are there to respond in most cases **after** the event has occurred, the shooting is over, the perpetrator has fled, and to draw chalk outlines around the bodies.
We successfully evicted this tenant and he fled the state and we never heard from him again. However, a week after the eviction, four State Police cruisers rolled into our driveway one afternoon. Two of them came to the front door: “We are looking for [name.] Do you have any idea about his current whereabouts?” I told them: “We executed an eviction order on him last week with the Sheriff’s deputy from [town name.] He drove out of here in a big rush and we have no idea where he is.” … “Well, if you hear from or see him again, we are looking for him and would like to talk with him.”
Toucan, well aware Kyle is white. Hence my statement that minors carrying is only “murky”, as you say, for white people. If he’d been a minority, the law would have been clear and he’d be found guilty with no objection. Especially considering that the only reason he has competent legal representation is because he’s white and received considerable donations and support from conservative gun fantastics. What was the gun fanatic support for Fernando Castile, who was shot by police for having a concealed carry permit while black?
What was the gun fanatic support for Fernando Castile, who was shot by police for having a concealed carry permit while black?
>a quick google search came up empty for “Fernando Castile”. Maybe it’s one of your many spelling error or perhaps this is a made up person.
SenorP: “In many states, a death resulting from the commission of a felony is charged as first degree murder, regardless of the intent.”
As noted above (see the link to US News), at least in Wisconsin it is not a felony for a minor to carry a gun or at least Kyle R is not being charged with a felony in connection with merely carrying a gun.
I agree with you that Kyle Rittenhouse shouldn’t have been there! He was living in Illinois, a lockdown and mask state. If he’d moved to the Florida Free State, he wouldn’t have become entangled in the peaceful BLM event in Kenosha. And, for the most part, people in Florida get along well enough that they don’t feel the need to get into gunfights when there is a disagreement regarding the extent to which Black Lives Matter. Except for perhaps state government workers, nobody should live in Illinois!
@philg, the trial showed Kyle Rittenhouse’s father lives in Kenosha. As a minor Kyle Rittenhouse did not choose himself to live in Illinois. And the trial farther showed that Kyle Rittenhouse was both police and firefighter volunteer, so the odds are he could and still can get onto municipal or state government payrolls. It is certain that if jury chicken-outs not to risk their hides under an onslaught and convicts him of something; Kyle Rittenhouse would be entitled for superior free prison medical service at the very list.
Anon: That’s a great point. Young Mr. Rittenhouse would have been better off in the Florida Free State, but we can’t blame him for not escaping there when Illinois became a slave state (see https://wallethub.com/edu/states-coronavirus-restrictions/73818 ).
Separately, https://www.chicagobusiness.com/government/illinois-projects-surplus-gaps-come-back-next-four-years (11/10/2021) says that despite the historic run-up in nominal stock prices, the unfunded pension debt of Illinois continues to grow. Current and former employees are fully protected from inflation, at least if you believe that official CPI bears some relationship to actual inflation.
@philg, interesting how “billions in federal aid” is hailed as Illinois governing success by the Chicago “business” source that you provided. Does Illinois debt has any meaning at all, except driving up general inflation by money printing press – happy providers of “federal aid”?
LegalInsurrection are doing a series on it.
The latest is https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/11/rittenhouse-trial-day-5-alleged-victim-gaige-grosskreutz-implodes-admits-had-glock-pointed-at-kyle-when-shot-lied-to-police-about-it/
Like Federico said – what was he doing there in the first place? This idea like he found himself in some unavoidable dire situation seems laughable.
He said he was there to keep peace and give aid to the protesters.
Sam, so only the gang allowed on the streets and only the gang allowed to bear arms, is this what you mean? If Rittenouse did not burn property he was not allowed carry firearms?
He was exercising his Constitutional rights. You see, Sam Storie, he is a man – unlike you, a humaniform hamster.
Kyle had very poor judgement to go but his stated reasons were to act as a medic and keep the peace.
The first shots were fired near/toward Rittenhouse by an unnamed assailant. There’s video footage.
The first death was Rosenbaum, who was a 5’3″ pedophile who spent most of his adult life in prison and chased and attacked Kyle. Rosenbaum’s reason for attending was to burn s*** and use the n word.
The mob then chased Kyle even though Kyle had an AR-15 on a harness. At one point Kyle fell on the ground and Gaige stood over Kyle with a gun aimed at him. Gaige testified on cross that Kyle didn’t shoot until Gaige aimed a handgun at him. There’s video confirming this.
The FBI had drone footage of the riot, which they withheld from defendant. The prosecutor had a search warrant for Gaige’s phone, but asked the detective not to execute the warrant using Marsy’s Law as pretext. Silicon Valley immediately deplatformed people who defended Kyle as well as people who tried to raise money for Kyle’s legal defense.
Perceived Kyle Rittenhouse’s poor judgement should not be part of the case. 17 year olds are allowed to be naive. He had as much right as any rioter to be there for whatever reason, be it sight seeing, taking a breather, insomnia or anything else. And he had 100% right to protect himself and carry tools for that, especially when attacked from all sides. Apparently Kenosha authorities thought that rioting and burning was fine and did nothing to stop it. That’s the result.
Anon, you illustrate the massive flaw in the whole firearm self defense ideology. You also overlook the clear rules surrounding legitimating self defense rights. You claim his poor judgement is irrelevant. Open carrying a gun is antagonistic. He was not emotionally equipped to do so. He claimed to hear a gunshot and people were saying mean things around him (first amendment) and he assumed it was directed at him. So basically, if you’re a chicken shit who isn’t trained or capable of handling stressful situations, you can kill anyone who can remotely be perceived as doing something threatening, because they’re afraid. Also, any time you carry a weapon, your own weapon escalates every conflict to a potentially deadly one, and isn’t that current? I’m willing to bet all the chicken hawks defending Rittenhouses’ actions will quickly rethink their position the first time minorites in any number show up at protests to “keep the peace” and self defend. Also, why do you need an AR-15 to provide medical aid to protestors? And, what’s one legitimate example of a hypothetical way he would have been able to “keep the peace?” Kyle wasn’t there to solve problems, he was the problem.
Senorpablo,
Open carrying a gun is antagonistic.
>this is false this is constitutionally protected activity.
So basically, if you’re a chicken shit who isn’t trained or capable of handling stressful situations, you can kill anyone who can remotely be perceived as doing something threatening, because they’re afraid.
>false again. In Wisconsin it’s a 2 part test. 1) Did the person reasonably fear that they were about to be assaulted and seriously injured? 2) If they did, then they would be entitled to use self-defence
Also, any time you carry a weapon, your own weapon escalates every conflict to a potentially deadly one, and isn’t that current?
>this is false. Many conflicts are resolved by the presence of a gun.
I’m willing to bet all the chicken hawks defending Rittenhouses’ actions will quickly rethink their position the first time minorites (or even spelled correctly “minorities”) in any number show up at protests to “keep the peace” and self defend.
>what odds do you propose?
Also, why do you need an AR-15 to provide medical aid to protestors?
>he said he carried the gun for self defense. He had a fanny pack with medical supplies to help the protestors (and rioters)
And, what’s one legitimate example of a hypothetical way he would have been able to “keep the peace?” Kyle wasn’t there to solve problems, he was the problem.
>One way he was able to help was to kill a dangerous child rapist!
Senorpablo, your armchair analysis contradicts all facts that came to light during the trial. Go re-watch it on youtube. The only chickenhawks here that I see are Kenosha authorities and other security services including Kyle’s Rittenhouse prosecution that are tasked to protect public order but who are scared and instead are going after a teenager who tried to help people and do their job, the only job they have per their insistence in an old lawsuit brought against them by on-going rape victims and that was confirmed Supreme Court decision
And please @senorpablo, try to keep lib retard echo chamber comments like ‘chicken sh1t’ out of this blog, this is one of the last places that is readable.
Anonymous: I wish that people wouldn’t attack others. Otherwise there is a risk that this blog will become an echo chamber. I don’t agree with Senorpablo about everything, but that doesn’t make my opinion better than his. (And we’re all armchair analysts unless we are on the jury, aren’t we?) And I am glad to be able to hear his perspective. Even if you think “lib retard” is a fair characterization of his perspective, the implication that it can be categorized means that a lot of other Americans will share that perspective. So we might as well learn what our neighbors think. (In our old suburb of Boston, of course, we only had to walk or drive by their houses to learn what they thought, since they would post their latest thoughts on yard signs, e.g., “In this house we believe..”)
Finally, there is a question of how strong an argument can be if it isn’t challenged. The folks who wrote https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/ama-aamc-equity-guide.pdf for example apparently think that they have a strong argument for righteousness by saying “The American Medical Association’s headquarters is located in the Chicago area on taken ancestral lands of indigenous tribes…” They don’t take comments/feedback on this so they will never hear the most obvious question: “If you admit that the land was stolen, why don’t you give it back and then pay rent?” Maybe they would have a good answer for why they don’t give back the stolen land to the nearest Native Americans and then pay them rent. But we’ll never hear that answer and their argument will remain weak because it is unchallenged.
@philg, I regret using “lib retard” phrase, it is unfair to many people with development disabilities who have beautiful and kind souls, and for real liberalism. I did not want to use word “idiotic” because it is has ben abused by people of low competency and not developed intelligence; in any case I am yet to come up with short and meaningful phrase substitute for the notion expressed by word “idiotic”. In no way I am trying to suppress @Senorpablo opinions on this blog, I welcome his comments. I asked him not to trash talk at this blog so I could continue following his prolific commentary. I grew up in the atmosphere of challenging intellectual conversations and disputes and my politeness has never failed me, in most harsh of circumstances. My request is for my own benefits so I would not start ignoring @Senorpablo. It is directed at a specific phrase and not at @Senorpablo or his sentiment which I still think is very wrong.
While the media and the woke spend time, energy and money on Kyle Rittenhouse trial, other killings that are far more frequent go unnoticed: “10 killed, 42 wounded in Chicago weekend gun violence” [1].
As is the case, it is a national news worthy and in our best interest to cover 24/7 news of whites-killing-whites or whites-killing-non-whites but it is NOT news worthy when non-whites-kill-non-whites.
And of course, when whites-kill-non-whites, there would be rioting, marching for justice (more rioting), jubilant speeches, calls for resignation, demand changes to the laws, demand payoff, et. al. and non of this will satisfy the victims family or the leaders advocating for justice.
I frankly don’t care about the discrimination here, but till when the media, the woke and the non-white leaders start making news out of non-whites-killing of non-whites, the non-whites will always be left behind.
BLM is only true, when non-white is involved.
[1] https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2021/11/7/22767954/chicago-weekend-shooting-homicide-roundup
Kyle is now testifying in his own defense. Gutsy move, as he can be questioned about his motives and past events. You can watch it live in YouTube.
If anyone wants to get a glimpse into how the prosecution is doing by watching just 15 minutes of trial, this 15 minutes of his testimony would be the one to watch:
Defense attorney has moved for a mistrial with prejudice.
NYT, 11/10/21 – Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyers asked for a mistrial, accusing prosecutors of misconduct
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/us/kyle-rittenhouse-mistrial.html
“Lawyers for Kyle Rittenhouse accused prosecutors of misconduct on Wednesday afternoon, and asked Judge Bruce Schroeder to declare a mistrial with no possibility of a retrial.
Corey Chirafisi, a defense lawyer, took issue with prosecutors’ references to Mr. Rittenhouse’s silence in the months before the trial, and with an attempt by the prosecution to introduce testimony on a previous episode that the judge had ruled inadmissible. Mr. Chirafisi suggested that prosecutors may have acted in bad faith, making it necessary not only to declare a mistrial but also to do so “with prejudice,” meaning that there could not be another trial with a new jury.
The judge did not immediately rule on the request.
The defense’s request came after a morning of fiery exchanges between Judge Schroeder and Thomas Binger, the lead prosecutor in the case, over what the judge perceived to be violations of his orders. Judge Schroeder scolded Mr. Binger again in the afternoon as the prosecutor argued against the motion for a mistrial.
“You’re an experienced trial attorney, and you’re telling me that when the judge says, ‘I’m excluding this,’ you just take it upon yourself to put it in because you think that you found a way around it? Come on,” Judge Schroeder said.
Mr. Binger denied doing anything wrong.
Judge Schroeder said he would give prosecutors more time to respond to the mistrial motion, and Mr. Binger was allowed to resume cross-examination of Mr. Rittenhouse. But the judge made clear that he believed Mr. Binger had intentionally defied his orders.
“When you say that you were acting in good faith, I don’t believe that, OK?” Judge Schroeder said. He warned that “there better not be another incident.” “
I think Rittenhouse is better off not getting a mistrial. Even if he got a mistrial with prejudice, an appellate court would probably say that he can be retried. In a retrial, the prosecutors can learn from their mistakes, and find a new strategy.
The trial has gone well for Rittenhouse, with all the important witnesses backing up the self-defense. Rittenhouse took the witness stand for himself, and the prosecutor was unable to find a way to make him look bad.
Rittenhouse is headed for acquittal on the serious charges. Not sure about the minor ones.