Updated We start with the issue that has to be addressed: the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Right at the top I have to say I was not surprised by the outcome. I was bitterly disappointed, but not surprised - notwithstanding the bruised knuckles I got from banging the desk so hard when I learned of the verdict.
No, not surprised - because from the start this was effectively a baby-faced white boy on the one side and three Black Lives Matter protestors on the other.
In that context, the defense didn’t have to present a convincing argument that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. The didn’t even have to offer a reasonably persuasive argument. All they had to do was present a superficially plausible argument that Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense to give the jury something on which to hang an acquittal on the grounds that the prosecution hadn’t proved its case.
Add to that a judge clearly biased in favor of the defense -
- he dismissed the gun charges on which Rittenhouse was all but undeniably guilty
- he blocked prosecutors from showing his connections to violent right-wing outfits like the proud boys
- he told the defense they could malign Rittenhouse’s victims as rioters, looters, and arsonists
Given all that, the case was pretty much over before opening arguments. I did maintain hope Rittenhouse would be convicted on the reckless endangerment charge - because I had to - but....
There is no appeal from an acquittal so the question becomes what happens now.
Rittenhouse himself is basking in his 15 minutes of fame on right-wing media and he is being held up as a conquering hero on right-wing social media - or at least he was, as most recently he’s had a blot on his escutcheon for having dared to criticize the totally wonko and for that reason QAnon hero Lin Wood.
What matters, though, is that it’s being suggested across right-wing social media that this case is now a legal precedent or even standard where you can now go and shoot lefty or progressive protestors and get excused by claiming it was self defense.
That’s not true of course, at least not yet, but that’s not the point. The point is that people can think it is.
Considering some - many - of the things the coterie of nitwits that is the American right wing believe - just consider that gang in Dallas maybe still waiting for Godot - and the idea that one of them could believe and act on that is a very real possibility.
Hopefully, any such person could be deterred by the other news - keep hope alive - that less than a week after Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted, the three bigots who murdered Ahmaud Arbery were convicted on a variety of charges and now face life in prison.
The jury had to deal with none counts covering five different felonies. Despite that and despite the efforts of the defense to rig the jury and appeal to racism - I think I hope that crack about Arbery’s “long, dirty toenails” is a takeaway from this trial - despite that, the jury reached its verdict in 10 hours, which shows how open and shut this case was. The defense did take a stab at “self-defense” but that fell flat and the trio were convicted by their own words.
There are three less attended facts related to this case I wanted to mention.
First is that former Georgia District Attorney Jackie Johnson has been indicted on charges related to her failure to pursue the case, including violating her oath of office and obstructing police.
Second, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating former Waycross District Attorney George Barnhill over his refusal to press charges despite the evidence, apparently due to his son’s relationship with one of the accused.
And three, one fallout of the case is that it has lead to Georgia reforming its citizen's arrest laws, something we can hope other states will do as well.
Beyond that, we can also hope that the lizard brains whose trigger fingers have gotten twitchier in the wake of the Rittenhouse trial will also deterred by the fact that in the same week that the Arbery verdict came down, a jury awarded more than $26 million in damages against two dozen white nationalist leaders and organizations for the violence that erupted during the 2017 so-called Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA.
This was the result of a month-long civil trial from a lawsuit filed by the group Integrity First for America on behalf of nine plaintiffs who had suffered physical or emotional injuries as a result of the violence and featured a vast collection of chat room exchanges, text messages, and social media posts by the defendants proving that yes, they intended there to be violence at the rally - which of course comes as no surprise to any of us but it's good it's now part of an official court record.
Now watch them do an Alex Jones and just try to stall paying until everyone dies of old age.
On the other hand, there could be more coming: Integrity Fitst for America intends to refile on the two counts where the jury deadlocked and seven other defendants who refused to respond to the lawsuit have been hit with default judgements, with damages still to be set by the court.
Finally on this, in a legally unrelated but politically and socially related case, on the same day Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted, a Kansas City MO white cop was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action for the killing of a 26-year-old black man named Cameron Lamb in 2019.
It was only the second time in Kansas City history a cop was charged in the death of a black person and the first ever conviction. The previous case was in 1942. So maybe it means something. I don't know but I'd like to think so. Because like I keep saying, keep hope alive.
[Updated with some links.]
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