Rittenhouse Verdict...

As we wait for the Rittenhouse verdict, I have a few final thoughts: 

There are a number of really questionable things done by the prosecution that make me wonder about the state of criminal jurisprudence in this country: 

Lied about the Law: The prosecution straight up lied about the law.  They repeatedly said that "if you have a gun, you lose the right to self defense'. Kyle should have 'taken a beating' rather than use deadly force.  This is not the law in Wisconsin, or anywhere else for that matter. Why does the Prosecution get to lie about the law? 

Fast and loose with the Rules: The prosecution made several statements that brought down scorn and admonishment from the judge.  Attempting to impeach Kyle for his silence, bringing in evidence that had been ruled out of bounds, and other indiscretions raised the ire of the judge and gave Rittenhouse grounds for a mistrial ruling or a very strong argument on appeal.  

Grosskruetz shadow deal: The lack of interview recordings and the failure to seize his phone are very unusual.   As noted in a previous post, Grosskruetz's treatment by the authorities is very odd and smacks of a behind the scenes deal.  

The defense was weak.  Kyle's defense was on solid factual footing, but missed a few important elements on the narrative: 

Factual misstatements:  the prosecution made a number of factual misstatements or distortions that the defense did not object to or correct.  "Guns aren't Left or right handed" and 'full metal jacket bullets are extra scary and deadly" stand out as false to the gun nuts like me.  These were not corrected by the defense and a critical to the self defense claim:

• Full metal jacket bullets for an AR15 are not extra deadly.  They are the standard ammunition for that gun.  They are used for training, target shooting, varmint hunting and more.  It is the specialty ammo that is out of the ordinary.  It costs more and is used for specific purposes like long range shooting, hunting, or military applications.  The assertion about the full metal jacket ammo is a farce. 
• The fuzzy image that purportedly shows Kyle point the weapon at Zaminski looks like Kyle is handling the weapon left handed.  The prosecution claims that guns are not 'handed', and the defense failed to point out the obvious.  Every picture and video that night show Kyle with the rifle slung for right handed use.  In order for the prosecution's claim to be correct, Kyle would have had to unsling the gun, switch the gun over to his off hand, point it at Zaminski, then shift the gun back and re-sling it.  None of this is consistent with the crystal clear and voluminous images of Kyle carrying the gun right handed.      

Time Parsing:  The prosecution made a big deal out of the frame-by-frame review of each of the shootings.  They then argued that Kyle had the information and the time required to re-assess and take a different course of action. Kyle didn't have to fire again  after the first shot at Rosenbaum.  Kyle had more room to retreat, etc.  All of this is obviously false when you view the video at full speed.  There was less than a second between the first and fourth shots at Rosenbaum.  There was  no time to reassess, and more importantly, no way Kyle could have known that in the moment.  Kyle missed Jump Kick man entirely at the same distance a few minutes later.  Kyle's shooting of Rosenbaum was one single shooting, not four separate incidents you can parse apart in .2 second increments.

Jump Kick Man: If this is what the prosecution and the media want you to believe (Kyle is an active shooter being lawfully detained by heroic citizens) then why has Jump Kick Man not come forward?  If the media narrative is correct, then he would be lauded as a hero.  He could fill in missing pieces of the puzzle such as what the motivations were for attacking Kyle, and what happened in the gap between the first and second shootings.    He has reportedly been identified, but this is still unconfirmed.  But he has
not come forward. This makes the Active Shooter narrative seem rather suspect. 

Protesters: The protestors outside the court are reportedly audible from within the jury room.  Surely this is prejudicial to Kyle.   What are the chances that the jury can reach an impartial decision when death threats and more are being chanted by a mob outside the window.  Why is this allowed?