Rittenhouse Trial: Calling Res Ipsa

[K Graham]

The simple fact is this. If it were against the law to open/carry in Kenosha, then this never would have happened and three dead individuals would be alive today. Rittenhouse never would have gone there to "protect" anything without a gun.

No one was getting shot that night until the MAGATards from out of state showed up armed to the teeth and provoked the locals who were protesting.

Like virtually all the violent deaths during the BLM protests, it all begins with counter-protesters who are seeking FOX News glory. Like the idiots who drove to Portland armed to the teeth. Weird how Aaron Danielson's guns didn't protect him from Reinoehl's single shot. A nutcase who basically assassinated him because he was in his town trying to start trouble.

[ajax18]

Media malpractice has come full circle in Kenosha, Wis.

Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial for the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of another is nearing its end, with the jury expected to get the case soon. The shootings took place as riots, arson and looting shook Kenosha after police shot Jacob Blake on August 23, 2020. The violence fed off the nationwide riots and looting that followed the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

From the start, the media misrepresented the Blake case and ensuing riots. They portrayed Blake as an unarmed man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, subjected to police brutality due to racism.

The truth was far different.

After an intensive investigation, prosecutors declared Blake’s shooting a justifiable use of force. The federal Justice Department reached the same conclusion. Contrary to media portraits, Blake was armed with a knife and was shot when he turned in a slashing motion at a policeman within arm’s reach.

While it wouldn’t be fair to say the media coverage caused the Kenosha riots, the press downplayed the mayhem and ramped up the hysteria. As with the Black Lives Matter riots in Minneapolis and beyond, the mainstream media incessantly focused away from the violence, despite almost 20 related deaths and more than $1 billion in damage.

Perhaps the most notorious example is CNN reporter Omar Jimenez standing in front of burning buildings in Kenosha with the on-air chyron reading, “Fiery but mostly peaceful protests after police shooting.” The phrase “mostly peaceful” is now a popular internet meme used to mock distorted mainstream media coverage.

It’s happening again with the Rittenhouse case, which was born in the Kenosha riots. From the media coverage leading up to the trial, one would think Rittenhouse was a white supremacist militia member who traveled to Kenosha to shoot up peaceful protesters.

But as has been widely documented, the case is going poorly for the prosecution. While I’m not predicting an outcome, having followed the case carefully, I can say that Rittenhouse has a strong case for self-defense.

One of the deceased, Joseph Rosenbaum, was a clearly violent person who had threatened to kill Rittenhouse, chased him down and went to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle when shot. The other dead man, Anthony Huber, was beating Rittenhouse with a skateboard in a swinging manner when shot.

Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded, admitted under cross-examination that he ran after Rittenhouse and closed the gap (but denied he was “chasing” him) — and that Rittenhouse only fired on him when Grosskreutz lowered his loaded Glock pistol to point directly at Rittenhouse from three feet away.

Most of this evidence came out of the prosecution case. When the defense called him to testify, Rittenhouse stuck to the same story witnesses told.

With trial evidence inconsistent with the news’ narrative, there could have been a major media mea culpa. Instead, headlines and framing continue that pre-trial narrative, even if inconvenient facts appear deep down in the articles. As the editors who run these stories and draft the headlines know, many if not most people don’t get far beyond the headlines and opening paragraphs.

Thus, NBC News breathlessly headlines a news report about the prosecution’s forensic pathologist testifying that Rosenbaum was in a “horizontal” position, “suggesting the victim wasn’t a threat when he was gunned down.” It’s not until the bottom of the article that NBC acknowledges that same expert testified the wound positioning was consistent with Rosenbaum diving towards Rittenhouse. Left out of the story was his testimony that gunpowder residue was consistent with Rosenbaum grabbing the muzzle of the gun when he was shot, just as Rittenhouse and witnesses said.

The headline highlight of Grosskreutz’s testimony according to a Daily Beast report was that he “tried to surrender” to Rittenhouse. Similar misleading narratives frame the case at the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and elsewhere. Reading only these publications, it would be reasonable to believe the original story of Rittenhouse as a shooter run amok, despite the trial testimony to the contrary.

From the inception of the Blake shooting, to the riots and now to the Rittenhouse trial, media malpractice has framed a Kenosha narrative completely divorced from reality.

William A. Jacobson is a clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School and founder of the Legal Insurrection politics and law website.

https://vigourtimes.com/the-media-frame ... lls-apart/

[K Graham]

Media malpractice has come full circle in Kenosha, Wis.

Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial for the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of another is nearing its end, with the jury expected to get the case soon. The shootings took place as riots, arson and looting shook Kenosha after police shot Jacob Blake on August 23, 2020. The violence fed off the nationwide riots and looting that followed the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

From the start, the media misrepresented the Blake case and ensuing riots. They portrayed Blake as an unarmed man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, subjected to police brutality due to racism.

The truth was far different.

After an intensive investigation, prosecutors declared Blake’s shooting a justifiable use of force. The federal Justice Department reached the same conclusion. Contrary to media portraits, Blake was armed with a knife and was shot when he turned in a slashing motion at a policeman within arm’s reach.

While it wouldn’t be fair to say the media coverage caused the Kenosha riots, the press downplayed the mayhem and ramped up the hysteria. As with the Black Lives Matter riots in Minneapolis and beyond, the mainstream media incessantly focused away from the violence, despite almost 20 related deaths and more than $1 billion in damage.

Perhaps the most notorious example is CNN reporter Omar Jimenez standing in front of burning buildings in Kenosha with the on-air chyron reading, “Fiery but mostly peaceful protests after police shooting.” The phrase “mostly peaceful” is now a popular internet meme used to mock distorted mainstream media coverage.

It’s happening again with the Rittenhouse case, which was born in the Kenosha riots. From the media coverage leading up to the trial, one would think Rittenhouse was a white supremacist militia member who traveled to Kenosha to shoot up peaceful protesters.

But as has been widely documented, the case is going poorly for the prosecution. While I’m not predicting an outcome, having followed the case carefully, I can say that Rittenhouse has a strong case for self-defense.

One of the deceased, Joseph Rosenbaum, was a clearly violent person who had threatened to kill Rittenhouse, chased him down and went to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle when shot. The other dead man, Anthony Huber, was beating Rittenhouse with a skateboard in a swinging manner when shot.

Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded, admitted under cross-examination that he ran after Rittenhouse and closed the gap (but denied he was “chasing” him) — and that Rittenhouse only fired on him when Grosskreutz lowered his loaded Glock pistol to point directly at Rittenhouse from three feet away.

Most of this evidence came out of the prosecution case. When the defense called him to testify, Rittenhouse stuck to the same story witnesses told.

With trial evidence inconsistent with the news’ narrative, there could have been a major media mea culpa. Instead, headlines and framing continue that pre-trial narrative, even if inconvenient facts appear deep down in the articles. As the editors who run these stories and draft the headlines know, many if not most people don’t get far beyond the headlines and opening paragraphs.

Thus, NBC News breathlessly headlines a news report about the prosecution’s forensic pathologist testifying that Rosenbaum was in a “horizontal” position, “suggesting the victim wasn’t a threat when he was gunned down.” It’s not until the bottom of the article that NBC acknowledges that same expert testified the wound positioning was consistent with Rosenbaum diving towards Rittenhouse. Left out of the story was his testimony that gunpowder residue was consistent with Rosenbaum grabbing the muzzle of the gun when he was shot, just as Rittenhouse and witnesses said.

The headline highlight of Grosskreutz’s testimony according to a Daily Beast report was that he “tried to surrender” to Rittenhouse. Similar misleading narratives frame the case at the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and elsewhere. Reading only these publications, it would be reasonable to believe the original story of Rittenhouse as a shooter run amok, despite the trial testimony to the contrary.

From the inception of the Blake shooting, to the riots and now to the Rittenhouse trial, media malpractice has framed a Kenosha narrative completely divorced from reality.

William A. Jacobson is a clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School and founder of the Legal Insurrection politics and law website.

https://vigourtimes.com/the-media-frame ... lls-apart/

Your obsession with "media malpractice" is based on your abject ignorance. You're provided no relevant details that were in any way "hidden" from the mainstream media. You're just too dishonest and dumb to care about what's actually true. The media's job is to report what witnesses say, so if a witness says a victim was unarmed, then they report it. Not as established fact, but as an "according to witnesses..." statement. And that is not media malpractice, that is just good journalism. When more information is brought to light suggesting a victim had a knife or what not, that is also reported by the media you're so terrified of.

The real insult to journalism comes from your preferred sources. These despicable excuses for journalists are nothing but paid hacks to create false narratives that push Right Wing agendas. For instance:

Here’s what Tucker Carlson got wrong about the Kenosha shootings

[ajax18]

The simple fact is this. If it were against the law to open/carry in Kenosha, then this never would have happened and three dead individuals would be alive today.

I'm sure Grosskreutz believes in repealing the 2nd amendment as well. Funny how that law didn't stop him from carrying a pistol to a violent BLM protest and attempting to use it on someone?

No one was getting shot that night until the MAGATards from out of state showed up armed to the teeth and provoked the locals who were protesting.

Sure you'll live as long as you get out of town and allow BLM to burn down and loot your businesses. This 71 year old business owner wasn't willing to do that and it cost him.

An elderly man in Kenosha, Wis., was brutally attacked and left with a broken jaw after defending two businesses from looters during unrest in the city Monday night, according to multiple reports.

Robert Cobb, 71, had responded to the Danish Brotherhood Lodge and The Mattress Shop in the city's Uptown after after seeing live video of people setting the area on fire, leading him to use a fire extinguisher to spray people attempting to break into the establishments. The mattress store would later burn to the ground, Milwaukee's FOX 6 reported.

“He sprayed them in the face so they had to take their masks off for identification,” said Pamela “Sue” Moniz, owner of The Mattress Shop, according to Kenosha News. “Someone pulled a gun and another person yelled, ‘Don’t shoot this man, don’t shoot this man.’”

Cobb was then hit in the head with a plastic bottle filled with concrete, knocking him to the ground. The fall broke his jaw in two places, split his nose and caused deep cuts to his head.

Video of the incident allegedly showed passersby attending to Cobb immediately after the attack, with one person remarking he needed to turn his head because Cobb was “drowning in his blood."

"He didn't deserve any of that, any of it," a woman can be heard saying on video to others in the area. "This is just wrong guys, do you not see this?"

"Were just trying to protect ourselves," another woman could be heard responding and allegedly defending the incident. "You don't understand what terrifies these Black men out here ... Understand, respect. How [a]bout that."

The latest few days of unrest in the city was prompted by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who was reportedly left paralyzed after being struck in the back seven times by Kenosha police Officer Rusten Sheskey.

Blake, 29, admitted to having the knife during the investigation, officials said Wednesday.

Moniz said she and others helped get Cobb into a truck, then drove through "a mass of people" and onto sidewalks just to get him to a hospital, the News reported. He will need surgery to put two removable plates in place and wire his jaw shut, the report said.

The business owner told Kenosha News she was grateful that Cobb tried to defend her business, and that others took care of him as he was lying on the sidewalk.


“I absolutely cry every time I talk about it because this man did this for me,” Moniz said. “He did it because that is the kind of person he is. He is so giving; so selfless.”

A crowdfunding page has since been created and raised nearly $20,000 for Cobb and the business owners.

Protesters walk past police with their arms up, late Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis., as a building burns in the background. Protests erupted following the police shooting of Jacob Blake a day earlier. (Associated Press)

"I have seen these three folks help neighborhood people for years with money, food, mattresses when no one could afford to pay. They have served the Kenosha community selflessly and so didn't deserve this horrible attack," the fundraiser said.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/kenosha-man- ... ead-report

[ajax18]

Has the county DA charged anyone else that was arrested with regard to the riots? I know some were rolled up by the feds, but I want to know if the prosecutors are politically motivated or not.

- Doc

That's an easy one. All DAs really care about is percentage of prosecutions that lead to convictions. That includes pleas. They want to say they have a 85% or 90% conviction rate or whatever it is. So they primarily go after low hanging fruit. What's an easy conviction? It may become political when certain kinds of cases, or cases with media coverage pressure them into taking a case they would rather not take because of the risk of losing. I highly doubt these DAs want to bring this case and have their names in lights if they can't get a decent conviction.

If there were rioters arrested and they are open-and-shut cases, I have no doubt the DA's will take as many as they can get to pad their stats, but something tells me in such a chaotic situation saying who did what might not be easy.

It's interesting to me that that the media isn't saying much about the Ahmaud Arbery case. If they want to push the narrative that white supremacist are out chasing down random black people, this case sure seems it would have had a more favorable fact pattern to the mainstream media narrative than the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. You don't hear much about Dylan Roof either which was a much more favorable fact pattern for libearls as well. Why does the media press so hard on cases that don't really fit their narrative. Three white men, all with criminal records, chase down another white man and end up getting shot by the would be victim?

[Jersey Girl]

I didn't see someone crying on the stand. I saw a break down.

If it all seems odd to you it's because you're looking at it from the outside with non-traumatized eyes. A traumatized person can look like they're all there, even when they're not there at all. Lessons learned in the trenches. Or ditches as the case may be.

I believe it’s not unusual for a person with PTSD to snap, as it were, if there’s a triggering event. Not only was he forced to relive the event, but he has to do it on the stand being grilled about it, FOR A NATIONAL AUDIENCE. Even if he doesn’t have PTSD over the event, he’s 18, on trial for murder and related charges, and he has to present himself in a way so he doesn’t waste his life in prison, all the while he’s IN FRONT OF A NATIONAL AUDIENCE.

- Doc

Confirmed today. He's in therapy for PTSD as a result of the incident as per one of his attorneys.

[K Graham]

I'm sure Grosskreutz believes in repealing the 2nd amendment as well. Funny how that law didn't stop him from carrying a pistol to a violent BLM protest?

He said he fully supports the second amendment, so again, you're just making crap up as you go.

Sure you'll live as long as you get out of town and allow BLM to burn down and loot your businesses. This 71 year old business owner wasn't willing to do that and it cost him.

What does some 71 year old idiot trying to "defend" property that wasn't even his have to do with anything?

An elderly man in Kenosha, Wis., was brutally attacked and left with a broken jaw after defending two businesses from looters during unrest in the city Monday night, according to multiple reports.

And so no one died, which is my point. And what does this have to do with the fact that the defense argued that Kyle only shot someone because a gun was pointed at him while ignoring the fact that he had already killed someone he knew to be unarmed?

[ajax18]

[ajax18]

[K Graham]

It's interesting to me that that the media isn't saying much about the Ahmaud Arbery case.

What's there to say that hasn't already been said?

If they want to push the narrative that white supremacist are out chasing down random black people, this case sure seems it would have had a more favorable fact pattern to the mainstream media narrative than the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.

Which means the media isn't fabricating politically driven narratives like you think and your idiotic assumptions are falsified. That's just a boogeyman the Right loves to create fear over. The narrative of white supremacists like yourself killing black people with impunity isn't a made up narrative. It is happening all the time, and even from people with a background in law enforcement.