Page 471 - Provocation News Today

Emotions. the reaction to the verdict represents a huge divide in terms of where we are. but in terms of the jury and the people who watched that trial unfold, theres very little argument that can be made. what this came down to is ultimately, did you believe the prosecutions narrative around provocation in as much as rittenhouse was the one who started it and should not be able to claim self-defense and that his actions were not reasonable, or do you believe the narrative that the defense put f...

Something home with them last night, shimon. >> reporter: well, this was really interesting. first of all, the fact that we didnt hear anything from them yesterday is fascinatifascinati how complicated some of the issues are, how much is at stake here. we heard nothing from the jury yesterday. they spent the entire day behind closed doors. we didnt see them until the end of the day when they wanted to go home. but even something more interesting happens as they are being dismissed for the night....

And the attorneys, how they were feeling, what was going on prior to the verdict. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: i mean, just within about an hour before the verdict came down, i was with the defense attorneys, and we were just -- they were getting kind of antsy, and they were trying to figure out what was going on, obviously waiting for this verdict. they felt confident. they were worried though over the video, the video, the drone video that they wanted -- the reason they asked ...

Details -- detailed public safety precautions in place in about 500 members of the national guard if unrest were to start here right now things are peaceful. emily, let me bring you back to this idea of provocation in the video. i dont know that the jury knew that there were two versions of the video but they did know there was a video and they asked him questions to the judge to have the video played, can they stop and start, can they watch as many times as they want, can they get still frames ...

Doubt, no, the prosecution had the burden to disprove that he actually was not reasonable or was thinking he was reasonable in this case. and so with all of that combined, it is not surprising that they were -- that an acquittal happened. but it came down to that jury instruction about looking through the eyes of kyle rittenhouse and also finally there is also the notion about provocation. remember, he was nott entitled o self-defense if he provoked around hi belief was not reasonable and he fai...

It indicates that a belief may be reasonable even if mistaken. so when kyle rittenhouse gets on the stand after three of the governments witnesses had indicated that he was being chased, there were screaming and yelling at him, hitting him with skateboards and getting kicked in the face by jump kick man and shots being fired behind him and th there were opportunities that he had to use the weapon where the people backed away and he didnt fire the weapon. to all, whether theyre on the the liberal...

>> rittenhouse testified in his own defense, which was considered something of a surprise. how important did that turn out to be? >> it was the entire case, pa pamela. we rarely put our clients on the stand because, for instance, looking at the arbery trial, we saw what happened with mcmichaels. its very dangerous. but with the defense of self-defense, you almost always have to let the client tell the story. they are the ones who can best say they were in fear for their life. why they used the f...

Violent conduct, he was avenging -- protecting property and the like. those are things that play into legally that instruction that was given the jury for provocation. the jury could have bought it and said this guy came there looking for a fight. therefore extinguished his right to self-defense. it has a very real potential for impact on as you slide the wheels of justice. here, judge schroeder singh i dont know if i ever want to have another live trial again because of the frightening aspect o...

Are not up for debate. kyle rittenhouse killed two men and injured a third. the political divide is to do with gun ownership in america. powerful footage from that night in august of last year. a highly charged atmosphere that night. we had groups campaigning, local businesses saying they wanted to protect their property, and those groups of mostly white arm young people came into the town, some of them not from kenosha, and were patrolling the streets. they said to help protect the property own...

Self-defense defense. but to win on prosecution, they needed to convince a jury that to initiate that confrontation with joseph rosenbaum, that kyle rittenhouse was the one who started it. and the only evidence they ever had of that was this grienny pixlated video imagery that showed up mid trial, and as the defense correctly pointed out, provocation was so important to the prosecution, that they mentioned it in their opening statement 0.0 times. so here the prosecution really, it cant be said t...