UPDATE: The Judge tossed out this gun possession by a minor charge (not a felony, despite what I wrote below).
This happens all the time in lawmaking; the zealots want to impose some restriction on citizens’ rights, and they ramrod a bill through in short order.
It appears that the gun charge may be out. It looks like, due to a technicality in the written law, Rittenhouse may not be guilty of a gun violation.
That increases the possibility that the kid walks. Because, given prosecutorial overreach, incompetent trial practices, and pissing off the judge, the most serious charges may fail to survive jury deliberation (or, if a guilty verdict is reached, the judge may direct a Not Guilty verdict).
That left the felony gun possession by a minor, normally a slam-dunk fall-back (UPDATE – NOT a felony, a misdemeanor). The practice of multiple charges is a standard in these politically-connected cases. They always throw in one charge that the jury is likely to settle on, after they’ve found the accused Not Guilty on all the other charges. That way, the Left can claim a ‘win’.
But, that option may be out. If so, Rittenhouse could walk free of ALL charges. Boy, would that piss off The Left!
1 comment
Here’s the thing. If you look at the discussion, it was all about whether or not the barrel was 16 inches long or shorter. The Prosecution went on and on saying that the defense should have measured the barrel. But… the 16 inch thing is because any rifle with less than a 16 inch barrel is an NFA schedule II weapon and requires registration with the ATF and payment of a special fee. The mere fact that this was a production AR15 means that unless it was modified aftermarket, it was a long barrelled rifle, and all this BS doesn’t apply. He was not guilty even on the most specific reading of the law.