- Pronouns
- She/Her
Specifically, it's the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. I am going into spoilers here, and also requesting that there be NO OTHER REPLIES ON THE TOPIC AFTER THIS ONE.
The Rittenhouse trial justifies every single bit of shenanigans, antics, and incompetence on the part of DA Louis Young in this fic.
The trial has been rife with prosecutorial misconduct, defense-side rank incompetence (they put the defendant on the stand!), politicization trying to overtake the actual facts... it's been a shitshow.
Through it all though, one thing is eminently clear: looking at the facts and evidence on the record, Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty by reason of self-defense.
This conclusion is entirely divorced from politics. My political leanings are screaming to lock Rittenhouse up, throw away the key, use him as an example, and jump off of this case and straight into gun control.
But that's not what happened here.
What happened here, in real life, is exactly what's happened in this first arc of Pound the Table: an ambitious prosecutor saw what looked like a slam-dunk case, did not properly prep and brief his witnesses, did not take the time to fully review all evidence on the record, then proceeded to stumble, fumble, and bumble out of the gate and hand a slam-dunk to defense counsel.
The difference here is that Kyle's attorneys let him testify, which they should never have done, he did not need to testify, there is a very real chance that that choice backfires hard. (And this is in spite of my thinking that Kyle was 1) prepped really really well, and 2) actually knocked his testimony out of the park...)
There will be precedent established with this case. And there shouldn't be. Because this case is such a shitshow that it should not be used for precedent.
My personal opinion of how this needs to end?
Mistrial with prejudice. Makes the case establish zero precedent. It's the only way to prevent the overpoliticization of things from spilling over into causing very real problems.
The trial has been rife with prosecutorial misconduct, defense-side rank incompetence (they put the defendant on the stand!), politicization trying to overtake the actual facts... it's been a shitshow.
Through it all though, one thing is eminently clear: looking at the facts and evidence on the record, Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty by reason of self-defense.
This conclusion is entirely divorced from politics. My political leanings are screaming to lock Rittenhouse up, throw away the key, use him as an example, and jump off of this case and straight into gun control.
But that's not what happened here.
What happened here, in real life, is exactly what's happened in this first arc of Pound the Table: an ambitious prosecutor saw what looked like a slam-dunk case, did not properly prep and brief his witnesses, did not take the time to fully review all evidence on the record, then proceeded to stumble, fumble, and bumble out of the gate and hand a slam-dunk to defense counsel.
The difference here is that Kyle's attorneys let him testify, which they should never have done, he did not need to testify, there is a very real chance that that choice backfires hard. (And this is in spite of my thinking that Kyle was 1) prepped really really well, and 2) actually knocked his testimony out of the park...)
There will be precedent established with this case. And there shouldn't be. Because this case is such a shitshow that it should not be used for precedent.
My personal opinion of how this needs to end?
Mistrial with prejudice. Makes the case establish zero precedent. It's the only way to prevent the overpoliticization of things from spilling over into causing very real problems.
If you want to reply to this... take it to DMs.
(The true mangling was supposed to be "rubbish tin".)
