Review of the First Week of the Rittenhouse Trial

The short version is that the trial got progressively worse for the prosecution as the week went on.  Attorneys differ wildly in regard to their abilities as trial advocates, but few good attorneys can overcome bad facts, although if an attorney is bad enough he can “overcome” the good facts that favor his case.  Initially the defense team seemed to be wrong footed.  They improved as the week wore on.  The prosecution seemed to be competent and progressively got more and more inept as the week passed.  What really bore against the prosecution however, was that the facts of the case scream justified self defense.  This is a prosecution that should never have been brought by the Kenosha County District Attorney, and must have been brought for purely political purposes, because as a legal matter it is clear that this is an unwinnable case.  If Rittenhouse is convicted, I find it hard to believe the verdict would be upheld by the courts.  It does not take a huge amount of legal knowledge or experience to conclude that each time Rittenhouse shot he acted in well-founded fear of his personal safety.  The trial shall resume next Monday.  I think the State will quickly complete its case after a day or two of further testimony, and it will be interesting to see if the trial Judge, who I cannot praise too highly, will grant the inevitable defense motion for a directed verdict on the ground that the State simply has not met its burden of proof.  Such motions are rarely granted, but this is a case where the prosecution has been so weak, and the facts so one-sided in favor of the defense, that it might be,especially by a Judge who clearly does not lack confidence and who, at 75, has no ambition for higher judicial office.