Kyle Rittenhouse verdict sends a chilling message to Wisconsin and the rest of the country [Wisconsin State Journal]
Here’s what legal experts say helped acquit Kyle Rittenhouse [CNN.com]
The Rittenhouse trial could never have been what Americans wanted [The Atlantic]
Video made police injustice visible. Now that visibility is trickling up to the courts [Washington Post]
Consider the presiding judge, Bruce E. Schroeder. He has instructed prosecutors to term the dead men “rioters” or “looters,” but not “victims”; mangled his jury instructions; and allowed his “God Bless the U.S.A.” ringtone to play loudly in the courtroom. It has been difficult to watch the Rittenhouse trial and feel confident that the judge will shepherd it toward justice.
Schroeder’s antics seem tailor-made to remind the public that the vast majority of state-level judges are elected, not appointed. As one lawyer reminded me, most didn’t attain these roles after a thorough assessment of their judicial expertise. And most don’t spend all their time in office meditating on the fairest adjudication of the law: They’re fundraising, appeasing constituents, attempting not to be seen as “soft on crime.”
Of course Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted [The Atlantic]
The United States is a nation awash in firearms, and gun owners are a powerful and politically active constituency. In state after state, they have helped elect politicians who, in turn, have created a permissive legal regime for the carry and use of firearms, rules that go far beyond how courts originally understood the concept of self-defense.
These laws have made it difficult to convict any gun owner who knowingly puts themselves in circumstances where they are likely to use their weapon—that is, anyone who goes looking for a fight.
Judge Schroeder blasted over Kyle Rittenhouse verdict: ‘He ‘virtually demanded’ not guilty’ [Independent.co.uk]
What we are witnessing is a system functioning as designed and protecting those it was designed for. My heart still breaks for the communities and families whose grief now compounds, and the countless others who will be denied and deprived in similar scenes across the country.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) on Twitter
Prosecution’s closing arguments: “You cannot claim self-defense against a danger you create” [Reuters via YouTube]
Why I couldn’t bring myself to watch the trial of another white vigilante [Independent.co.uk]
Of course, I did know Rittenhouse had much help in Judge Bruce Schroeder, who in the course of the trial, has been criticized for how he angrily reprimanded the prosecution, referred to a juror in a past case as a “Black,”banned MSNBC from the courtroom, and being known for being often “pro-defense.” Judge Schroeder even let Rittenhouse randomly select dismissed jurors out of a tumbler so he could feel “in control.”
Unrest in Portland as Kyle Rittenhouse verdict divides US [The Guardian]
There’s nothing more frightening in America today than an angry White man [CNN.com]
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