“Kenosha ‘Trial’ Was Rigged – Fascistic Murderer Gets Off”, The Internationalist (Oct-Nov 2021, No.65)
Given
the inadequate and faulty information on this trial from both the corporate
media and some outfits like the SWP, this article is a refreshing
change, as it comes from a reporter who seems to have watched the whole
trial. Many think the Left press prints
no valuable information – it is only a source of rhetoric, polemics or history
worship and nostalgia.
This
article was written by the Internationalist Group (LFI). It contradicts the
official narrative and makes a good number of factual points that refute
Rittenhouse’s self-defense claim, as well as showing how the Judge and the
‘prosecution’ helped Rittenhouse. It is
worth reading as to the corrupt nature of the present legal system, which is no
secret now. DA’s might be forced to
bring charges, but subsequently make a hash of the case.
This was a sham trial.
As is
well known, Rittenhouse was a minor who traveled over a state border carrying a
gun that was not his, enabled by his right-wing mother, to ‘defend’ businesses
in Kenosha from anti-racist protesters over the racist shooting of Jacob Blake
by Kenosha police. ‘Open carry’ at this
point enables right-wing militias to intimidate people, though ‘open carry’ was
not on trial here – but perhaps it should have been. Nevertheless ‘open carry’ is illegal in
Wisconsin for minors, so Rittenhouse should have been arrested
immediately. Nor was the gun registered
to him. These facts ‘poison’ any defense
he might have for killing 2 and wounding 1 in alleged ‘self-defense.’
However,
in this trial, that didn’t matter, as the issue could not be brought up, nor was it
pursued by the prosecution. The
judge ruled this ‘breach’ inadmissible as a charge, thus hiding the original
law-breaking by Rittenhouse.
The Internationalist lists these facts:
1. The local DA never charged the cop who shot Blake, Rusten Sheskey, for anything. This is the same DA’s office behind the ‘prosecution’ of Rittenhouse.
2. Rittenhouse was part of a large crowd of gun-toting militia members menacing protesters, a context missing from the trial.
3. Rittenhouse pointed the AR-15 at protesters in a threatening manner. The defense tried to exclude evidence related to this. Viewing this, you might think that self-defense was the motivation behind the people confronting Rittenhouse!
4. The ‘prosecution’ accepted the idea that Rittenhousee's self-defense claim was a real issue, even though they charged Rittenhouse with murder, seemingly on both sides of their own case.
5. The Trumpist judge, Bruce Schroeder, ruled that the prosecution could not refer to the dead and injured as ‘victims,’ but only as ‘rioters,’ ‘looters’ and ‘arsonists.’
6. Schroeder refused to admit into evidence a video of Rittenhouse watching looters at a CVS pharmacy, saying he wished he had a gun to shoot them. The judge explicitly admitted that it showed he had a propensity for violence, which is why it was excluded.
7. Trumpers like Mike Lindell paid Rittenhouse’s bail. Rittenhouse attended a 2020 MAGA rally in Iowa, sitting in the front row. Trump later celebrated Rittenhouse’s actions. This is the overall political context.
8. After sentencing, Rittenhouse skipped town without leaving an address, so the DA's office asked for his bail to be raised. Schroeder refused.
9. Schroeder refused to allowed pics of Rittenhouse giving ‘white power’ salutes with Proud Boys or the fact that they flew him to Miami to meet their leader, thus hiding his ideological motivations.
10. Schroeder frequently threatened to call a mistrial when the prosecution attempted to even do a partial job.
11. The judge reviewed videos seated next to Rittenhouse.
12. Jury selection was rammed through in one day. One juror was admitted even though he said he couldn’t be impartial because of his high support for the 2nd amendment.
13. The judge had the defendant, Rittenhouse, pull alternate juror names out of a hat like he was some employee of the court. (!!)
14. Rittenhouse cried crocodile tears over being threatened by unarmed demonstrators trying to grab his AR-15. He showed no remorse for the people he shot. As we know, courts take remorse seriously. See the Potter trial in Minneapolis, where Potter got a light sentence for killing an unarmed black man, partly after she showed frequent tearful remorse.
15. The prosecuting Assistant DA himself, Thomas Binger, was cited by right-winger podcasters and the AP as ‘building a case for the defense.’ His choice of witnesses, and their coaching, resulted in him choosing witnesses that said they did not feel ‘seriously’ threatened by Rittenhouse.
16. The DA put fascists and right-wingers on the stand as part of the prosecution case, who of course backed up Rittenhouse’s claims.
17. Rittenhouse spent much of the night walking with a Boogaloo Boi Ryan Balch, a neo-Nazi. Balch said Rosenbaum (one of the dead) shouted threats against the militiamen. This shows Rittenhouse never stayed in place protecting a store, as was his claim for coming to Kenosha.
18. Asst. DA Binger denounced one of the dead, Rosenbaum, for overturning a dumpster and lighting it on fire. He approved the presence of the militias, as they were ‘on private property’ – even when they weren’t. He approved of the cops giving water to Rittenhouse and other militia members, for supporting them via loudspeaker, and for not arresting the known shooter that night. Asst. DA Binger couldn’t have cared less about Rosenbaum and Huber.
19. Binger’s office, at the same time, was prosecuting anti-racist demonstrators from that night.
20. Evidence of collusion between the militias and the police was left out of the trial, which is a significant fact related to the fascistic laissez faire atmosphere on that night. For instance…
21. Kenosha’s police have a long history of racist policing – almost no black cops on force, racial profiling, brutality. The police said the demonstrators were illegal because it was ‘after curfew’ – which evidently didn’t apply to the alt-right militias.
22. Kenosha FB posts by the “Kenosha Guard,” the 3%ers and the “Citizen Guard” organized against the demonstrations. Some of their posts said “Shoot to Kill,” which is what Rittenhouse did.
23. Balsh, the Boogaloo Boi, told protesters that the KPD police told him they were going to push demonstrators towards the militias, so the militias could ‘deal with them.’
24. Lawsuits were filed by Huber’s family and Grosskreutz, who was wounded, alleging the KPD ‘deputized’ thugs like Rittenhouse and others to intimidate and kill demonstrators. Kenosha showed a clear case of collaboration between the state and fascist militia men – something that is common in history, past and present.
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| The Shooter |
The Internationalist does not bring up the legal Castle Doctrine, which states that someone in their home can shoot an intruder in self-defense. But in public places the duty is to retreat. Rittenhouse did not retreat, but acted with impunity, as if the street was his home. Nor was an effort made to get another judge before the trial was carried out, in spite of Schroeder being a well-known arch-conservative. I think it was also possible for the DA's office to ask for a mistrial due to his actions. (Schroeder actually reminds me of the openly prejudicial judge in the Chicago 8 trial, Julius Hoffman.)
The claim of ‘self-defense’ is used by killer cops, racist vigilantes, ‘crime-fighters’ and fascists to shoot at or gun down those they oppose. Even Biden said that looters should be ‘shot in the leg.’
The article ends by calling for “workers defense guards” and mass black / labor / immigrant action to defend oppressed communities. By the way, the slogan ‘workers defense guards’ is a part of the transitional program of the old 4th International.
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P.S. - 2/20/22, news that one is dead, 5 wounded in Portland, OR during a protest over the killing of Amir Locke in Minneapolis. This is undoubtedly the fruit of the Rittenhouse decision. A local hard-right homeowner opened fire on protesters and one shot back in self-defense. Benjamin Smith was reported as always talking about shooting commies and antifa by someone who knew him. Smith has been charged with murder, while the anti-racist defender who protected the march has been charged by police too!
Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 15 year archive, using these terms: “The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution,” “Anti-Fascist Series,” “The Appeal” (Grisham); “The Post,” “With Liberty and Justice For Some” (Greenwald); “The Divide – American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap” (Taibbi); “Bad Cops, Bad Cops,” “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” “Defund, Disband or Abolish the Police?” or words like ‘fascism’ or ‘police.’
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Red
Frog
February 19, 2022
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