It was August 28th of 2020 when “In Defense of Kyle” appeared as a short Featured Article in the CLB. Only three days before Kyle Rittenhouse had his day of deadly infamy in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In that Article, I wrote of the evidence of self-defense known to me at the time. The Article included my opinion that Kyle, at the tender age of 17, was too young to carry an AR15-style rifle into such a confrontational environment. The Article concluded with my wish for Kyle that he “be blessed with good representation.” It turned out that he was blessed with good representation, at least at the trial stage of the case.
A theory of the CLB is that (sometimes) good lawyering changes the outcome of a case. I do not contest that Kyle’s trial lawyers deserve credit for his acquittal.
After the evidence was presented, I persisted in my thinking that Kyle had a good case for self-defense. While Kyle was legally entitled to acquittal, I still see him as having substantial moral responsibility for the damage wrought. I almost agree with the prosecution theory that Kyle provoked the conflict that he cited to excuse his use of deadly force. My take on provocation is that, to a mob of young men committed to an evening of bad behavior (a/k/a “protestors”), there was inherent provocation in the very sight of a child strutting about with such a serious, threatening firearm. How dare he assert authority over them?
I watched one “Court TV” commentator offering his opinion that the killing of Anthony Huber (described as “unarmed”) would be the least likely for an acquittal. Mr. Huber was the one with a skateboard that he smashed into the body of Kyle Rittenhouse before his failed effort to take control of the firearm. Mr. Huber may have thought at the time that Kyle was an “active shooter” who had to be stopped. At any rate, Huber was not unarmed. For example, a hammer is a household tool until it becomes the “blunt instrument” of bodily injury or death. From tool to deadly weapon. If you conduct a “Fast Case” national data search of state and federal cases there will be several hits for skateboards as deadly weapons. If Mr. Huber had it to do over again, he should steer clear of Kyle, or wield that skateboard with the force needed to eliminate the threat.
Despite his acquittal, Kyle has lost his anonymity and more. His post-trial decisions have been nearly as ill-advised as his choice to show up in Kenosha, a boy with a man’s rifle on a mission to quell rioters. I do not expect Kyle to confess his moral responsibility, at least not while there are civil suits pending. What I would like to see of Kyle is nothing. He should drop out of sight and stay there. He is no hero, no role model, and no spokesman. I have very little interest in his opinions.
Any continued presence of Kyle in the public eye will fuel an ongoing political (and even racial) exploitation of him and the prosecution against him. Though no person of color was harmed, there are those (far too many) insisting that Kyle’s actions, his prosecution, and his acquittal were examples of White supremacy. To the CLB the only racism in the whole affair is that of “playing the race card” without just cause for doing so.
One lesson (of many) to be learned from the Rittenhouse affair is that local prosecutors have a duty not to overcharge. That duty was breached. The prosecutors who made the charging decisions and who tried the case against Kyle are worthy only of our contempt.
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