Immediately after a Wisconsin jury acquitted all charges of Kyle Rittenhouse, defense lawyer Mark Richards swiped his predecessor and their tactics (weapons and the right to protect themselves) as a rallying point for Rittenhouse. (I’m devoted to portraying) isn’t him.
“I was hired by the first two lawyers. I’m not going to use their name,” Richards said on Friday. “They wanted to use Kyle for something that I think is inappropriate-and I don’t represent the cause. I represent the client.”
When Richards spoke to reporters outside Racine’s law firm after his acquittal, he said all that was important to him was “whether he turned out to be innocent.”
It seemed like a proper comment from Richards. With co-adviser Corey Chirafisi, he spent several months leading up to the incident in de facto silence- “I will not interview,” he requested in one email in December. Unfriendlyly said to-the second amendment.
Hours after the verdict, Fox News advertised an exclusive interview and upcoming documentary about Rittenhouse, and posted a video revealing that the crew had been embedded in him during the trial. Richards told The Associated Press on Saturday that he was inappropriate for the crew, but that it was arranged by people raising money for the Rittenhouse.
“It wasn’t approved by me, but I’m not always in control,” he said, adding that he had to throw the crew out of the room several times. And that was clearly acquitting Kyle.
Regardless of what was happening behind the scenes, Richards and Chirafisi’s strategy in court was clear. Ask the jury to consider Rittenhouse as a scary teenager who shot to save his life.
They repeatedly focused on the 2 minutes 55 seconds when the shooting unfolded. This is an important moment when Rittenhaus, then 17 years old, felt threatened and triggered.
Dean Strang, a lawyer and prominent professor at Loyola University Chicago Law School, said: Stran, who spoke to AP before Friday’s verdict and had nothing to do with the case, sees Richards and Chirafisi as an 18-year-old kid who “has more trouble than he can handle.” “. ‘
A few days after the shooting, the Rifle, who protested the AR-style rifle, said it was protecting the property of strangers, and lawyers John Pierce and Lin Wood initially portrayed the Rifle as a defender of freedom and patriotism. Represented by Wood. A person who was exercising his right to arm. Pierce thanked his supporters for tweeting a video talking on the phone from a prison in Illinois, where Rittenhaus was born. A video released by a group tied to his legal team stated that Rittenhouse was “sacrificed by politicians.”
More than enough money for Rittenhouse to invest $ 2 million in bailouts has flowed into the legal defense fund, but Wood has left the case and is willing to claim that Donald Trump has won the presidential election. Became the target. Pierce left the criminal case in December after prosecutors said they should not be allowed to raise money for Rittenhouse, but until Rittenhouse said he had fired him in February. He stayed on the civil side of things.
On Friday, Richards said of his first meeting with Rittenhouse:
Richards, who was moody and often sitting in a chair with gravel voices for several months before the trial, was like a chief lawyer. After the verdict, he called Chirafisi his co-adviser and “not the second chair” and called him a “best friend.”
They prepared and came to court. Richards used several videos during the opening statement-over the opposition of the prosecutor who didn’t seize the opportunity.
When they felt the prosecutor was acting maliciously, they appeared to have defeated the prosecutor by insisting on an illegal trial and dismissing the gun charges.
And they probably made careful calculations in their biggest decision: whether Rittenhouse should take a position, risking a potentially damaging mutual inspection. Richards said he tested their proceedings against two sets of mock juries and found that Rittenhaus testified that he was “substantially superior.”
“It wasn’t a close call,” he said.
Richards is a court veteran and founded his own company specializing in criminal defense in 1990 after serving as a prosecutor in Racine and Kenosha counties in the late 1980s. Chirafisi is also a former public prosecutor and has been practicing the law for over 20 years. His law firm is in Madison.
Lawyers repeatedly opposed the prosecutor’s idea that Rittenhaus was an outsider drawn to Kenosha by the turmoil, he lived in nearby Antioch, Illinois, but his father lived in Kenosha, Rittenhaus. Said he worked as a lifeguard in Kenosha County. Richards shared the pain of seeing violence in Kenosha from Racine’s home after a white policeman shot dead black Jacob Blake.
Prosecutors tried to show that Rittenhaus acted as an overreacted guard, but he and his lawyers claimed he was defending himself. “As a jury, you will see it from a 17-year-old standpoint in the circumstances in which they existed,” Richards told the jury.
When the Rittenhouse stood on the stand, they immediately opposed the prosecutor’s cross-examination and called it the badge ring.
After the defense opposed a series of cross-examinations by prosecutor Thomas Binger at a fierce moment in the trial, Chirafisi said Binger was about to cause suspicion because of the state’s illness.
“I don’t know it’s my job to sit here and say who won,” Chirafisi told the judge. “I don’t think that’s what I’m supposed to do, but I think the court has to come up with some findings because it’s related to the prosecution’s malice. ..
Richards and Chirafisi divided their duties in court, Richards made opening statements and closing arguments, and Chirafisi processed much of the witness’s testimony. Richards said the two had discussed who would ask Gaiji Großkreutz, who had a gun in his hand when Rittenhaus shot and injured him.
Richards said Chirafisi won-and did a better job than he has. Chirafisi had Grosskreutz admit that he pointed his gun at the Rittenhouse.
“You pointed your gun at him and went over him, he fired, right?” Chirafisi asked.
“That’s right,” Grosskreutz replied. Under a follow-up question from the prosecutor, Grosskreutz said he had no intention of pointing his weapon at the Rittenhouse.
Strang, who helped represent Steven Avery in the case documented in Netflix’s “The Road to the Murderer,” described Chirafisi as witty and always in court. Richards said Richards was slow to get angry, but said he would “don’t let go” if he thought something was unfair.
It was apparent in Richards’ closing argument, in his vibrant voice, when he looked at the prosecutor’s table and repeatedly accused Binger of lying. The jury appeared to be riveted. Richards reiterated his dislike of how prosecutors filed their proceedings on Friday.
He also accused social media of spreading what he called “not a true story” of what happened in Kenosha shortly after it happened.
“I knew this was a big deal,” Richards told reporters. “I never expected it to grow so big.”
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Forliti reported from Minneapolis. The Associated Press writer Scott Bauer of Madison, Wisconsin contributed to this report.
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Find the full coverage of the Associated Press in the Rittenhouse trial: https: //apnews.com/hub/kyle-rittenhouse
Rittenhouse Lawyer Trial Playbook: Don’t “Crusades”
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