I really don’t know what I can add to the Kyle Rittenhouse story that has already not been said but I will try.
I have been following the story rather closely because it is only 20 miles south of where I grew up and still reside, where everything took place, where Jacob Blake got shot by the Police, where the protests occured, and where Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17yr old boy from Antioch, Ill, came armed with an AR15 styled rifle supposedly to protect a Kenosha car lot and where he shot three men, killing two of them. I have followed as many news accounts as I could get access to. Here is my account.
Kyle Rittenhouse did not belong in Kenosha that night armed with a high powered rifle, this coming from a 50yr member of the NRA and a strong gun rights advocate. He belonged at home in bed. Neither did the other three men. Two of them were not Kenosha residents. The only Kenosha resident of the three was Joseph Rosenbaum who had been released that day from a Milwaukee hospital for an attempted suicide. So all three of the victims had to come from out of town to get to the trouble spot. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Why were the police not instructed to prevent out of town protesters from getting to the problem area? If none of these men had been there, none of this would have happened!
But it did happen. Since the verdict was released there have been calls for justice reform because the result was not what the protesters wanted. That is not the kind of justice reform that is needed though. The tragic case from Waukesha, WI, only 40 miles to the NW of Kenosha, where Darrell Brooks plowed into a Christmas parade with an SUV killing 5 and injuring 49 is a case in point. There were no guns involved. It was not a terrorist plot. It was committed by a man who , ”…had been free on a $1,000 bail in an earlier criminal case in which he was accused of trying to run over the mother of his child in the parking lot of a Milwaukee gas station” as reported by The NY Times, with the same car in which he committed the Waukesha tragedy. A spokesman for the Milwaukee DA described the states bail recommendation in that case as ”inappropriately low” and not consistent with office policy.
That is one type of Justice reform needed. Keep violent criminals behind bars. Darrell Brooks had a long violent criminal history. He has served two jail sentences and has spent years on probation. He has abuse allegations and paternity suits outstanding. Why was he out on the streets free to roam, free to drive his car onto a parade route killing an 81 yr old man and a 79 yr old woman along with 3 others and injuring dozens more including many children?
Kyle Rittenhouse should have been convicted of something. But the prosecution failed to present a good case. The defense on the other hand did a much better job focusing on their duty which is getting their client off. The Justice system has failed us again. And that is where the protests should focus – holding these prosecutors responsible for their poor handling of this case!