A jury unanimously found 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty of intentional homicide, reckless and attempted homicide, and reckless endangerment. Twelve citizens concluded that when he killed two men and wounded another during a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020, he did so in self-defense.
And how could they have found otherwise? The evidence was so overwhelming that the jury had no other option than to acquit Rittenhouse on all charges.
Video-footage evidence showed that Rittenhouse shot one man who was attempting to grab his weapon (an AR-15), shot another who was attacking him with a skateboard, and shot a third man who was pointing a handgun at him. This third man, one of the prosecution’s witnesses, acknowledged during the trial that he pointed his gun at Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse shot him.
Below is an excerpt from the cross-examination of Gaige Grosskreutz, the man Rittenhouse shot and wounded. (You can see it for yourself a little after 2:52:29 of this video.)
Rittenhouse’s Defense Lawyer: It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him, with your gun — not your hands down — pointed at him, that he fired. Right?
Gaige Grosskreutz: Correct.
Why wouldn’t Rittenhouse seek to defend himself in these circumstances?
Instead of affirming that justice was done and that the jury acted properly, Democratic politicians and mainstream media television hosts have gone into fantasy land with tweets and comments about supposed racial injustice in this country.
Kyle Rittenhouse is smeared as a white supremacist. The verdict supposedly shows that whites are treated better than blacks by our justice system.
Legally, of course, these attacks are irrelevant. Self-defense is self-defense no matter who’s defending himself.
But the attacks are also nonsensical. The three men that Kyle Rittenhouse shot were white. Kyle Rittenhouse is white. A white man shot three white men who were attacking him. How does this translate into racial injustice?
“Our country aches for accountability. My heart is with those traumatized by Kenosha and the failures of our justice system.”
The “failures of our justice system”? Would she rather see an innocent man imprisoned for decades? Wouldn’t that be a “failure”?
Why would she make a statement like this, when the facts of the case are so clear?
Or do facts not matter?
Is all fair when you’re pandering to favored constituencies?
Worse are the comments of U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Dorchester), who tweeted: “Racism & white supremacy remain the bedrock of our legal system” and “My heart breaks for the family & loved ones of those whose lives were stolen, and the trauma our communities face today and every day. The struggle for accountability, for justice, for healing goes on.”
Again, where is the injustice? A man innocent of a crime went free. The men he shot threatened his life. Their deaths are sad – as is the loss of every human being. But how were their lives “stolen”?
Or how about Congressman Seth Moulton’s shameful comment: “I’d like to have faith in our criminal justice system, but the immediate question that comes to mind with this news is: Would he have been acquitted if he were black?”
Actually, the immediate question that comes to mind is:
Is he not guilty?
Since the answer is yes, isn’t that what matters?
Why would Moulton seek to trash the entire U.S. judicial system, as if every judge and jury is made up of racists and bigots?
We could quote dozens of statements such as these from Democratic politicians. The most important link between them is that they are fact-free.
As is so often the case, these politicians choose power over principle, lies over truth. In this case, they appeal to the worst instincts of their voters to try to get re-elected rather than affirming that justice has been done.
Even President Joe Biden indulged in this despicable behavior, issuing a statement that began with the following: “While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned …” Why would he want to make it seem as if Rittenhouse were guilty? More pandering to those portions of the electorate who want to see racial injustice even when all the characters in the play are white!
A criminal trial should not be a matter of politics. It should be a matter of facts and the law. In this case, even if you like the left-wing “protesters” of Kenosha and you don’t like Kyle Rittenhouse, why not just acknowledge the facts? Rittenhouse committed no crime. The trial established that.
Instead, Democrats twist and ignore facts to try to prop up their dubious election chances in 2022.
How sad.
And how needlessly divisive.
New to NewBostonPost? Conservative media is hard to find in Massachusetts. But you’ve found it. Now dip your toe in the water for two bucks — $2 for two months. And join the real revolution.
