U.S.: On the Kyle Rittenhouse Shooter Case
By Adam Smith, ISL in Israel/Occupied Palestine, 22.11.2021, https://the-isleague.com/ and www.thecommunists.net
There is no doubt that is court victory is a boost for the right wing, it has nothing to do with self-defense. The latest alt-right star has already been offered internships, and in the next round of Black Lives Matter protests, there is no doubt that it will encourage more right-wing vigilance violence towards Black Lives Matter protesters. There is also no doubt that a black man would be treated very differently.
For example, just a few days ago, “Stitt’s announcement came after Jones’ supporters staged days of protests in advance of his scheduled execution, which was to take place at 5 p.m. ET Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Jones, 41, has maintained his innocence for more than two decades in the 1999 slaying of Paul Howell, a businessman in the affluent Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond…. State and county prosecutors have said the evidence against Jones is overwhelming. Trial transcripts show witnesses identified Jones as the shooter and placed him with Howell’s stolen vehicle. Investigators also found the murder weapon wrapped in a bandana with Jones’ DNA in an attic space above his bedroom. Jones claims the murder weapon was placed there by the actual killer, who visited Jones’ house after Howell was shot.” [1]
When the Black Panther Party members carried guns, Reagan decided to implement gun control in California. [2]
There are also no doubt that far-right elements cooperate with the police: “He was able to leave the scene even though, as caught on video, he walked toward police with his hands up as protesters yelled that he had shot people.
The relationship between Rittenhouse and police has drawn particular scrutiny in the wake of video interactions captured earlier in the night…
One viral Facebook post on Aug. 26 said “video showed police thank him & give him water prior to the killings.” Later in the nearly two-hour video, Rittenhouse tells the man shooting the video, “People are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business, and part of my job is also to help people. If there’s somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle, because I need to protect myself obviously. But I also have my med kit.”
About 90 minutes into the livestream at 11:30 p.m. — 15 minutes before the fatal shooting — the following exchange with police occurs as Rittenhouse and another armed man walk outside a business.
Police officer (over a loudspeaker): “You need water? Seriously. (unintelligible) You need water?”
Rittenhouse, raising his arm and walking toward the police vehicle: “We need water.”
Police officer: “We’ll throw you one.”” [3]
There is no need to speculate what would happen in the reverse situation, as it has already happened (the result? He is killed by cops without a warrant, and Trump brags about it):
“Danielson’s shooting was caught on videoby Justin Dunlap, who was livestreaming the demonstration on his Facebook page. He told The Oregonian/OregonLive, “I saw the victim pull something up from his hip with his right hand and a big cloud of mace goes in the air. And then half a second later, there were two pops.”
Danielson can be seen stumbling two or three steps before collapsing on Southwest Third Avenue, south of Alder Street.
In the Vice News report, Reinoehl appears to admit to the shooting, saying, “I had no choice.” He then added, “I mean, I, I had a choice. I could have sat there and watched them kill a friend of mine of color, but I wasn’t going to do that. …
“I am confident that my friend and I’m sure I would have been killed because I wasn’t going to stand there and let something happen,” Reinoehl said.
“I realized what had happened,” he told the interviewer. “I was confident that I did not hit anyone innocent. And I made my exit.”” [4]
Also, if anyone has an illusion about the role of police in society, even the cops admit they have no duty to protect civilians!
“City says cops had no duty to protect subway hero who subdued killer: He says he put his life on the line to stop a killer — and claims cops sat back and watched.
But city lawyers are arguing that the police had no legal duty to protect Joseph Lozito, the Long Island dad stabbed seven times trying to subdue madman Maksim Gelman — a courtroom maneuver the subway hero calls “disgraceful.”
A judge is currently deciding whether Lozito, who sued the city last year for failing to prevent the attack, will get his day in court.
The drug-fueled Gelman had fatally stabbed three people in Brooklyn and killed another with a car during a 28-hour rampage when he entered an uptown No. 3 train on Feb. 12, 2011.
Police officers Terrance Howell and Tamara Taylor were part of a massive NYPD manhunt. They were in the operator’s cab, watching the tracks between Penn Station and 42nd Street for any sign of the fugitive. Lozito was seated next to the cab…. The city routinely settles such litigation but is playing hardball with Lozito, insisting his demand for unspecified money damages be tossed because the police had no “special duty” to protect him or any individual on the train that day.
“Under well-established law, the police are not liable for such incidents,” said city lawyer David Santoro. “That doesn’t detract from the Police Department’s public safety mission — or the fact that New York is the safest big city in America.” [5]
A rigged trial:
The US justice system is very harsh, unless it is about protecting its own. For example, the judge, while normally judges play along with the prosecution resulting in a very high conviction rate, forbade the victims from being called victims in court, and instead they could only be called “rioters” or “looters”. Not to mention he also had an expensive defense team and a bond that cost over 2 million dollars, and they ran two mock trails, with and without crying at the end to see which one will give better results! The judge also forbade the jury from seeing his Facebook posts in which he wrote about wanting to shoot protesters, crucial evidence in proving that this was premeditated! While allowing him to say one of the victims was a pedophile-this is not relevant to the case, just plain irrelevant ad hominem, as he obviously did not know that when he shot him (in fact, if he knew that before, that would have made the case for the shooting being premeditated!).
“But that law also allowed minors to possess long guns for hunting as long as the barrels were at least a foot long. … But when he acknowledged that Rittenhouse’s rifle’s barrel was longer than 16 inches, the minimum barrel length allowed under state law, Schroeder dismissed the charge” [6]
Apparently, when a while wannabe cop carries a gun with a large barrel, it becomes a “hunting rifle”, so the case can be dropped (also crossing state lines, carelessness, etc., everything was thrown out). Physics! Later, he went on a second and third shooting (even the first one wasn’t justified), which are also seen as “self-defense”.
There are many ways to manipulate the juries. In the US there is a jury system (and elected judges), a remanent of elements from the bourgeois democratic revolution of the American colonists against British rule. However, an all-white, easily manipulated, jury along with a conservative judge is no guarantee for a fair trial. Any democratic principle can be twisted and turned for nefarious means (for example fake referendums in Russia/Hungary as a tool to bring legitimacy to the current leaders). While we support the right to trial by jury, as we believe that the law should be accessible to anyone, we can’t support a manipulated jury and trial (as described above), in the same way that just because most British voters voted for Brexit, doesn’t mean can we support it.
Down with the police!
Down with the bourgeois court system!
Support Black Lives Matter movement!
For creation of self-defense squads!
Endnotes:
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulford_Act
[5] https://nypost.com/2013/01/27/city-says-cops-had-no-duty-to-protect-subway-hero-who-subdued-killer/
[6] https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/explainer-judge-drop-rittenhouse-gun-charge-81285031