Kyle Rittenhouse: It was the proper verdict

 Now that the jury has spoken and Kyle Rittenhouse has been acquitted on all counts, I think it is proper to weigh in.

First let me begin by saying that at the tender age of 17, Rittenhouse made an error in judgment in going to Kenosha and being present at the site of the riots. His intentions were noble-to protect the property of innocent people where police could not and the National Guard wasn't even called. I would have counseled the young man to stay at home. At the age of 17, he should not have been there.

Having said that, Rittenhouse never lost his right to self-defense. It was not proven or effectively shown that he provoked the violence that was directed at him. He was not the aggressor. On the contrary, he was being chased by the people he shot. In the case of Joseph Rosenbaum, the video shows that as Rittenhouse was being chased, a shot was fired by someone else. Cornered, Rittenhouse turns around and is confronted by Rosenbaum, lunging at him in an apparent attempt to take his weapon away-and presumably shoot him with it.

Rittenhouse is then chased by others, he falls and is set upon by Anthony Huber, Gaige Grosskreutz, and others including one man just identified who delivered a running kick to Rittenhouse's head. Grosskreutz points a loaded a gun at Rittenhouse, whereupon Rittenhouse shoots him in the arm. Huber is also shot (fatally) while attacking Rittenhouse with a skateboard.

Is there any doubt that Rittenhouse feared for his life-and with good reason?

That leads me to my next question: Why was this case even brought to trial? Answer: It was the state submitting to mob justice. BLM and Antifa. As I write, it remains to be seen what happens when night falls in Kenosha and other cities like Portland, Minneapolis, and who knows where else?

The performance of the prosecutors was awful, and I say this as one who is usually sympathetic to prosecutors and supports them. But for a prosecutor to attempt to make an issue in court that Rittenhouse remained silent when arrested is astounding and would have been grounds for a reversal had he been convicted. Some have speculated that the prosecutors intentionally tried to provoke a mistrial in order to bring about a second trial since this one was going so badly. In all my years in law enforcement, I never saw such a thing or heard of such a thing.

As for Judge Bruce Schroeder, I may not have been impressed with his judicial temperament, but his rulings were sound and based on the law and the Constitution. And for this, he is attacked and even threatened with death.

And then there is our old friend, the media. All along, they were clamoring for a conviction. On the last day of this drama, there was NBC/MSNBC reportedly sending one of their reporters to try and follow the bus carrying the jurors from the courthouse. Every day, the media sinks to a new low.

And if all that isn't enough, we have President Biden, who, while campaigning last year, compared Rittenhouse to white supremacists-even though all of the persons shot were white. Today, he announced that he was not happy with the verdict. Shameful.

Had Rittenhouse been convicted, it would have represented a cautionary tale for ordinary citizens who try to protect themselves and their property from the likes of BLM and Antifa, especially in cities like Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle, where the politicians order their police to stand down. This verdict should stand as a cautionary tale for the rioters in America.