Welcome back to the launch of our live coverage of the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, beginning today with the start of jury selection. Kyle is charged with a variety of felonies, including first-degree murder, for shooting three men, two fatally, as well as for alleged reckless conduct on the night of August 25, 2020, in riot-torn Kenosha WI.
Today begins the first day of the substantive trial, with the selection of a 20 person jury having been completed yesterday, and in a single day! You can see our analysis of the surprisingly speedy jury selection process in yesterday’s post, here: Kyle Rittenhouse Jury Selected – Trial Begins Tuesday. A detailing of the criminal charges and my plain English analysis of them can be found in last Sunday’s post: Rittenhouse Trial: What to Expect As Trial Starts Monday.
With a jury seated, we expect today’s court proceedings to start out with the party’s opening statements–first, as usual, the opening statement of the state, followed by the opening statement of the defense. In each case, the two sides will be laying out for the jury their own view of what transpired on the night of August 25, 2020, what drove Kyle Rittenhouse to shoot three men and otherwise conduct himself as he did that evening, and what each side intends to prove or disprove beyond a reasonable doubt (or, for the defense, show that the state cannot prove or disprove beyond a reasonable doubt) over the course of the trial.
It is common in these kinds of politically energized prosecutions that are based on little if any evidence inconsistent with self-defense for the state opening to engage in a great deal of ambiguous but evil-sounding and largely evidence-free bluster and table-pounding, and the defense opening to be much more factually concrete–but we’ll certainly find out shortly.
Naturally, we’ll be live streaming the court proceedings, as well as providing real-time commenting and analysis from the moment the court comes into session until it recesses for the day, right here at Legal Insurrection, in this post. You can find both the streaming video and the real-time commenting below.
After the court has recessed for the day, we’ll also be providing a detailed but plain English legal analysis of the day’s events, their likely impact, and legal consequences, and so forth, also right here at Legal Insurrection, in a separate “end-of-day” blog post.
With that said, make yourselves comfortable, and let’s get ready to rumble in State of Wisconsin v. Kyle Rittenhouse!
You carry a gun so you’re hard to kill.
Know the law so you’re hard to convict.
Stay safe!
–Andrew
Attorney Andrew F. Branca
Law of Self Defense LLC
Nothing in this content constitutes legal advice. Nothing in this content establishes an attorney-client relationship, nor confidentiality. If you are in immediate need of legal advice, retain a licensed, competent attorney in the relevant jurisdiction.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY