For the second time in his trial, lawyers for Kyle Rittenhouse called for a mistrial Wednesday. The latest request, which came during day two of jury deliberations, surrounds video prosecutors played during the trial.
Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi said the defense received an inferior copy of the video. He said the defense would have approached things differently if it had received the higher quality video earlier. Prosecutors said the jury saw the highest-quality version of the video during the trial and it was played without objection.
Judge Bruce Schroeder did not immediately rule on the mistrial request. The mistrial request would be made “without prejudice”. That means prosecutors could try Rittenhouse again if the request is granted.
Defense lawyers called for a mistrial in the Rittenhouse case just hours after the jury asked to review video prosecutors said showed Rittenhouse pointing his gun at protesters before the shootings. Prosecutor Thomas Binger said they should be able to view any video they wanted as many times as they wanted, while the defense said they would object to the video review. Schroeder sided with Binger.
“Sometimes there is one piece of evidence that is absolutely critical. … To me, if they want to watch it 100 times, that’s them,” Schroeder said.
Meanwhile in Georgia, the defense took over questioning in the trial of three men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery last February. One of the defense’s first witnesses was the man who shot Arbery, Travis McMichael. He, his father Greg, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan are all charged with murder.
“I want to give my side of the story,” Travis said. “I want to explain what happened and to be able to say what happened from the way I seen it.”
Travis’ testimony comes as the defense began building on arguments that their clients were lawfully trying to stop burglaries in their neighborhood when they killed Arbery. The prosecution rested their case Tuesday, following eight days of testimony from 23 witnesses.
And in Washington, the man described as the “public face of the Capitol riot” was sentenced to 41 months in prison Monday. Jacob Chansley, also known as the “QAnon Shaman”, was not accused of committing violence on Jan. 6. However, he did plead guilty to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding.
“Mr, Chansley owned his responsibility. He sought to be accountable,” Chansley’s attorney Albert Watkins said after the sentencing. “He is respectful of this court and everyone involved in this case for having put himself in this position.”
