THE JURY REACHED ITS VERDICT in the Kyle Rittenhouse case in Kenosha, WI on Friday. The now-18-year-old’s criminal trial wrapped early in the week and jurors, despite having death threats leveled against them, fulfilled their civil duty with dignity and aplomb. Some Americans followed he case closely on TV. And some were not impressed with what they saw.
Rittenhouse had shot dead two (white) people a wounded a third on the night of Aug. 25, 02020 in Kenosha amidst the Black Lives Matter rioting there. Rittenhouse had claimed self-defense. Because it was seen by so many, including his own testimony(!), it was impossible to hide some serious prosecutorial misconduct, such as the use of witnesses whose testimony was belied by photographic evidence; as well as press propaganda, such that the judge in the case disallowed MSNBC back into the courtroom because of their juror intimidation (under further investigation). Had the case been quietly tried in some tiny courthouse in the outback of the Badger State, the result may have been quite different. You couldn’t even get an update on Facebook and Twitter as both platforms (and GoFundMe) had banned support for the defendant, who was supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. (Hint: he wasn’t.)
The verdict, finding Rittenhouse Not Guilty on all five counts, has since been condemned by many who had erroneously reduced the trial to one about ‘systemic racism,’ a favorite, albeit unsupported theme of the era. Even Joe Biden managed to say he was “angry” about it, though he may have confused it with the colonoscopy he had that day. One thing is for certain: whether you view the verdict as a miscarriage of justice depends entirely on your political bent. (If you’re a Dem, the “racists” and “Nazis” won.) That’s not how justice is supposed to work, of course, so having objective coverage is critical to a fair and just legal process. Interestingly, though, Mother Jones had this to say, here.
With good judgment, the National Guard was put on alert for the delivery of the verdict. Thankfully so far, things remain peaceful in Kenosha, though near-freezing temperatures may be the reason more than acceptance. There is no need to re-litigate this case. We’ll probably see Rittenhouse sue media outlets, a la Nicholas Sandmann, for defamation and he’ll probably prevail. No one should be accused of, and have to defend against, being a “white supremacist.” (Let’s Go Brandon.)
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