Defense Lawyers Present Theory That Completely Ruins Prosecution's Claim Rittenhouse Was Aiming Gun
The Kyle Rittenhouse trial has certainly been one for the ages, as the closely watched case has experienced a great many ups and downs — well, mostly downs for the prosecution, whose case has been slowly crumbling bit by bit.
Rittenhouse, 18, is facing charges for shooting three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020, amid violent riots following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man.
The teen, who was 17 at the time, had traveled to Kenosha from his home in Illinois to help protect local businesses from destruction. During an altercation with rioters, Rittenhouse shot three men, killing two. He is facing intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide, as well as other lesser charges over the incident.
His attorneys have argued that their client fired in self-defense, an argument that has only gotten stronger as the trial has progressed.
The biggest blow initially came when the state’s own witness, Gaige Grosskreutz, the one man who survived being shot by Rittenhouse, admitted that he had pointed a loaded handgun at the rifle-wielding teen moments before he himself was fired upon.
Drone footage reviewed by the court as well as testimony from other witnesses has also bolstered Rittenhouse’s allegation that the rioters were chasing him in the moments before the deadly shooting.
Another claim made by the prosecution fell apart this week after the defense noted that a zoomed-in photo of Rittenhouse, over which much ado was made in the courtroom on Thursday, couldn’t possibly have shown the young man aiming his rifle before the shooting, as the prosecution claimed.
The image in question appears to show Rittenhouse with his rifle aimed at a fourth rioter moments before the shooting, we are supposed to believe.
However, the defense took issue with the fact that the image had been heavily zoomed-in and pixelated and objected to it being submitted as evidence.
As The Associated Press reported, there was a lengthy argument between the judge, the state and the defense over the photo on Thursday, with the prosecution going as far as to say that the defense was taking advantage of 75-year-old Judge Bruce Schroeder’s admitted lack of knowledge of modern photo-enhancing technology.
Schroeder ultimately decided that the jury would have to make what they would of the blurry, grainy image.
However, on Friday, the defense noted something far more glaring than the much-disputed pixelation of the photo, as conservative journalist Jack Posobiec reported.
If the image indeed showed Rittenhouse aiming his rifle, it’s showing him aiming his rifle as though he were left-handed.
Rittenhouse is not, in fact, left-handed, and as all other images of him from that evening show, he had his rifle slung for a right-handed shooter.
Oops.
BREAKING: Kyle’s lawyers just pointed out the prosecutors claims of this photo would require Kyle to be holding the gun left-handed when Kyle is clearly right-handed https://t.co/nhLnVvwrwp
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) November 12, 2021
Here’s the defense explaining this glaring disparity, going as far as to stand up to demonstrate:
https://t.co/AoJa2CvNem pic.twitter.com/McGmwG3vG4
— The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) November 12, 2021
Posobiec had already noted this glaring difference on Thursday.
Kyle always held his rifle right-handed and in low-ready
But Binger’s interpolated image makes it look like he is holding it left-handed and at high-ready
Binger says Kyle is pointing his rifle at Ziminski, but it’s more likely the algorithm made his strap look like a rifle pic.twitter.com/vsCB58Mh2Q
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) November 11, 2021
If you look at the unedited photo it is clear what’s going on
Kyle is making this exact pose. Shoulder up, rifle down.
Judge never should have allowed doctored photo and Binger should be disbarred pic.twitter.com/8UEuWu71kh
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) November 12, 2021
It’s pretty difficult for a shooter to switch from right-handed to left-handed with a rifle. Rittenhouse’s attorney noted that the image was “open to interpretation,” which is certainly putting it lightly, as it’s basically a Rorschach test at best as you can barely make out anything in the photo to begin with.
This really, really doesn’t look good for the prosecution, which was already on thin ice.
It should also be noted that it was pretty generous of this judge, who has been accused of being biased toward Rittenhouse, to allow the photo to be included as evidence.
It will ultimately be up to the jury to decide if the blurry, pixelated photo of Rittenhouse magically switching his shooting stance in the middle of a violent and chaotic scene is substantial enough to convict him of intentional homicide — which, if there’s any justice left in the world, they won’t.
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