If the jury finds itself looking for a reason to completely unravel self-defense entirely, however, and simply convict Rittenhouse of all the charges regardless of the lack of legal merit to support such a verdict, a desperate effort by the prosecution to characterize this misdemeanor offense as the “provocation with intent” needed to crush the legal defense entirely may provide the jury with just the excuse they need to do exactly that.
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Rittenhouse’s criminal trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, November 1, 2021. And thanks to the kind sponsorship of Legal Insurrection, we’ll be here live.
"So why also include a misdemeanor charge good for at worst 9 months in jail and a $10,000 fine—and, given Kyle’s perfectly clean criminal history, how unlikely it is that he’d receive that maximum punishment even if convicted of this charge?
"There were two key issues I wanted to tackle on this matter of this misdemeanor gun charge.
"First, which we covered in yesterday’s content, was whether Rittenhouse had even violated the relevant gun law in the first place. You can find that content here: “Rittenhouse: Should Misdemeanor Gun Charge Just Be Dismissed?”
"The bottom line was that a plain-English reading of the relevant Wisconsin statutes would appear to exclude Rittenhouse from any criminal liability under the charged misdemeanor gun crime. It is for this basis that the defense has filed a motion, still under consideration by Judge Schroeder, to have this gun charge dismissed.
"Second, and the issue we’ll discuss in today’s content, is why is Assistant DA Binger so aggressively pursuing this relatively modest misdemeanor gun charge against Rittenhouse when he already has a handful of serious felony charges pending against the defendant? Is there a simple, straightforward rationale for this?
"Or might the prosecutor have a more sinister strategy behind bringing this charge—a strategy that threatens the very core of Rittenhouse’s self-defense? A strategy that, if successful, would leave Rittenhouse defenseless against conviction on every one of the felony charges brought against him?
"So, grab a seat and make yourself comfortable, as we dive into this second question about the why behind this misdemeanor gun charge.". . .