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Tucker: Rittenhouse Has 'Already Won' and We Are Watching 'Willful Prosecutorial Misconduct'

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It was an unusual move for Kyle Rittenhouse to take the stand in his own defense on Wednesday.

Defendants don’t have to testify, after all, and cross-examination by experienced prosecutors could destroy their chances of acquittal in a matter of moments.

In highly charged cases like Rittenhouse’s, it can also engender reactions like this one from NBA superstar and liberal Twitter warrior LeBron James, who mocked Rittenhouse for crying during his testimony:

Criminal justice expert LeBron James, ladies and gentlemen. You’d think he would have learned from an April controversy in which he posted a threatening tweet targeting the officer who shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant, an Ohio teen who, bodycam video showed, was about to stab a girl pinned against a car. Apparently not.

However, what makes Rittenhouse’s decision to testify truly unusual is that, no matter how much the establishment media tries to wallpaper over the fact, the state’s case against him is extraordinarily weak.

The prosecution’s own witnesses have indicated that the first man shot by Rittenhouse in August 2020 had tried to grab his gun. Rittenhouse discharged his AR-15 a second time only after a man pointed a loaded pistol at him.

“By the time he testified today, Kyle Rittenhouse had already won the case,” Fox News’ Tucker Carlson said in his opening monologue on Wednesday.


“In a move that surprised lawyers everywhere, Rittenhouse took the stand in his own defense. That is unusual in criminal cases, and it’s especially unusual in murder trials, and the reason is simple: The stakes are too high,” Carlson said. “One wrong answer in a cross-examination and you could wind up spending life in prison. But this case was different.”

Will Kyle Rittenhouse be acquitted?

“At this point, there was no remaining doubt that Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense during the riots last summer in Kenosha. Every shot Rittenhouse fired was captured on videotape and from multiple angles,” Carlson continued.

“Every single witness who testified this week at the trial confirmed exactly what happened. And here are the facts of it: A convicted child rapist called Joseph Rosenbaum was released from a mental hospital and then went directly to join the mob that was burning downtown Kenosha.

“Once he got to the riot, Rosenbaum saw Kyle Rittenhouse and immediately threatened to kill him,” Carlson said. “Rosenbaum then chased Rittenhouse and tried to pull the gun from his hands. When he did that, Kyle Rittenhouse shot him. So Joseph Rosenbaum died as he had lived, trying to touch an unwilling minor.”

Even the “fact-checking” grifters at Snopes had to conclude that Rosenbaum was indeed a convicted child molester.

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“Yes, at age 19, Rosenbaum was sentenced to prison for sexually abusing five children — all boys between the ages of 9 and 11 — in Arizona’s Pima County in early 2002,” the outlet reported in September of 2020.

When Rittenhouse took the stand, Carlson argued, what we all saw was “willful prosecutorial misconduct.”

Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, Carlson noted, “[implied] that Kyle Rittenhouse must be guilty because he had exercised his constitutional right to remain silent after he was arrested.”

According to Fox News, the move prompted defense attorneys to ask for a mistrial, which Judge Bruce Schroeder didn’t immediately rule on.

He did, however, excoriate Binger.

“I was astonished when you began your examination by commenting on the defendant’s post-arrest silence,” a visibly angry Schroeder said after the jury was removed from the courtroom.

“That’s basic law. It’s been basic law in this country for 40 years, 50 years. I have no idea why you would do something like that. … I don’t know what you’re up to.”

“You can watch televised trials for the next 10 years and never hear a judge talk like that. That’s how completely out of control the prosecution in this case is,” Carlson said.

“At this point, it’s not even clear it’s going to make it to a jury. The defense has asked the judge to dismiss the case without the possibility of a retrial, and the judge indicated he might very well grant that request. So again, what you are watching is willful prosecutorial misconduct. It’s an intentional perversion of justice, and the judge very well knows that.”

Carlson went on to point out another scary detail: “the number of institutions that joined the Democratic Party in trying to prevent Kyle Rittenhouse from getting a fair trial.”

“Here’s one example. In Virginia, a police lieutenant called William Kelly was fired from his job for daring to donate to Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense,” Carlson said.

“Kelly was a 20-year veteran of the Norfolk Police Department. He had three children and a wife with cancer. For disagreeing with Joe Biden’s view of the Rittenhouse case, the department dismissed him without a pension. That actually happened.

“In Salt Lake City, a local news station decided to terrorize a paramedic called Craig Shepherd. His sin? Giving $10 to Rittenhouse’s legal defense. So reporters called Shepherd’s employer. Another reporter showed up at Shepherd’s house with a camera crew and then bragged about it. “

Then-candidate Joe Biden, in case you had forgotten, included an image of Rittenhouse in a video about “white supremacists.”

But then, we all assumed the fix would be in on this one, too. Rittenhouse’s case — like Derek Chauvin’s in the death of George Floyd — was assumed to be a fait accompli. We were told Rittenhouse was a far-right domestic terrorist.

The facts haven’t supported that narrative — and not only that, but the prosecution has engaged in egregious misconduct.

Some speculated that it was intentional, that things had gone so wrong that prosecutors wanted a do-over. (Of course, as legal expert Alan Dershowitz pointed out to Fox, if the judge believes that’s the case he can prevent a retrial.)

But see if you hear it from the establishment media.

“Having watched the trial, no honest person could fail to admit the obvious: The media were completely wrong about Kyle Rittenhouse,” Carlson said. “They slandered an innocent kid, but they’re not admitting it.”

Perhaps a not guilty verdict, if and when it comes, will wake them up to just how wrong they got this one. Or perhaps they’ll retreat into LeBron-land, convinced of their own rectitude.

Sadly, one can all but guarantee they’ll go with the latter.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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