There are dozens of criminal trials each week in America, involving defendants with their the same liberty interests at stake as Mr. Rittenhouse. Such defendants are no less presumed innocent than Mr. Rittenhouse, and no less deserving of a fair trial. Their defense counsel — often a diligent and talented public defender — fight like hell to protect their clients from unfair prosecution tactics or overzealous police conduct.
Many dedicated lawyers handle post-conviction litigation, which can take years of painstaking efforts and resources, before a wrongful conviction is overturned. These efforts require $$$.
The right to effective counsel requires adequate funding and resources. I don’t recall you ever posting about the need for States (especially in the South) to ensure that our judicial system is appropriately funded and staffed, particularly for the indigent who cannot afford counsel.
The prosecution is also entitled to fair trial. Hence, I mentioned the Abrery case, where the trial judge found it reprehensible for defense counsel to ask the Court to remove black pastors from a public courtroom.
There are stories about criminal cases everyday in national and local news. Yet, Kyle Rittenhouse seems to be the one that has garnered so many threads on this Board. I get that the case is a national news story. But, perhaps posters ought not view this case as a sporting event, by voicing their outrage over every misstep by the prosecution, or feeling entitled to a certain verdict.
Surprise us sometime, and start a thread about a conviction being overturned, and sharing your compassion for the defendant and his family over the loss of liberty for so many years, because of an unscrupulous prosecutor or detective who buried exculpatory evidence.