The Cross
Judge Strongly Hints at Mistrial With Prejudice, if Littlefinger Continues "Brazen," "Astonishing" Behavior

Sorry to spend so much time on this today, but it seems important enough to liveblog.

By the way: The Morning Rant will be posted when they break for lunch.

Live stream here.

Here's Legal Insurrection's commentary-free feed, for those who don't like the chit-chat.

Live tweets from the Law of Self-Defense.

Binger is attempting to argue that Rittenhouse's use of his fifth amendment right to remain silent before today shows he's guilty -- which is blatantly unconstitutional and may result in a dismissal of charges. Someone does really not have the right to remain silent if, at trial, you suggest his exercise of that right means he's guilty.

Judge says this is a "grave constitutional violation," says he's "on the borderline, maybe over it." Convictions have been reversed on these grounds for sixty years.

But judge does not scold Littlefinger in front of the jury (they were out of the room for this colloquy) and does not instruct the jury to disregard his questions.

Littlefinger is now just trying to portray buying an AR-15 as inherently criminal. He's trying to portray Rittenhouse as living a video game murder fantasy.

If Littlefinger says that that night was a Call of Duty game, then Kyle *WON.*

HEARTBREAKER INSTA-KILL
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

DISARMING SHOT
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES SHOT
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

Littlefinger is attempting to diminish Rittenhouse's long and consistent devotion to life-saving services -- volunteering as a fire department cadet, taking EMT courses, acting a lifeguard.

Binger attempted to bring up a prior statement of Rittenhouse's that he did not have permission to introduce. The judge just yelled at him about it.

HE'S YELLING EVEN LOUDER NOW, SAYING HE'S "ASTONISHED" HE WOULD DO THIS AFTER HAVING ALREADY CROSSED THE LINE BY PENALIZING THE DEFENDANT'S FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.

The defense says Littlefinger is TRYING to "provoke a mistrial" -- implication, because he knows he's losing and wants a second trial.

Littlefinger is now telling the judge to stop interrupting him.

Judge to Littlefinger: "DON'T GET BRAZEN WITH ME!"

Judge is now repeating he's "astonished," and began to speak of the "progress" of the trial, referencing what the defense attorney argued.

By "progress" of the trial, he's saying, "This trial has now officially gone too far for a second trial. This is THE trial. It would be unfair to the defendant to have a second trial when we are this close to a jury verdict."

He did not finish his thought-- but what he was starting to say was this:

"If you force a mistrial, it will be a mistrial WITH PREJUDICE, and all charges will be dismissed. You will not be allowed to contrive yourself a second trial through deliberate, brazen misbehavior."

The judge does in fact suspect that Littlefinger is trying to derail the current trial because he knows he's losing.

Littlefinger is engaging in tedious questioning to establish, stupidly and falsely, that if you have your gun on a sling, it is IMPOSSIBLE that anyone can take it from you or turn it against you. He's claiming this so as to claim that Rosenbaum posed no threat.

He's now talking about Full Metal Jacket rounds in order to claim that they can go through a body and injure people behind their targets, to prove recklessness. He wants to claim hollow points won't exit a body and therefore it was reckless to not use hollow points.

Littlefinger now claim that FMJ rounds were designed so that when you shoot one target they will continue travelling and hit bonus targets. Yeah. That's why they were made.

The judge stops him here. An expert could make such a claim (but wouldn't, it's false), but Littlefinger has been testifying even though he's supposed to be asking questions, and the judge just stopped him and said "You've been testifying for a while now."

He also pointed out that FMJ do not automatically hit bonus targets, which severely understates it.

Now they break for lunch.

Blago points out that no matter what bullets Kyle used, Littlefinger would have claimed they were the "wrong bullets." If he had used hollowpoints, he would have said Kyle was looking to kill people.

571 And if he used hollow points, it would be he wanted "extra lethal" exploding bullets. Posted by: Blago

Hollowpoints expand when they pass through the human body. They tend to not penetrate the body as much as FMJ rounds. But, on the other hand, they produce really horrific wounds as they create especially large wound-channels as the bullet "mushrooms" to have a larger cross-section.

Whichever bullets Rittenhouse used, Littlefinger would be claiming this proves his guilt.

&bodytext=Sorry to spend so much time on this today, but it seems important enough to liveblog. By the way: The Morning Rant will be posted when they break for lunch. Live stream here. Here's Legal Insurrection's commentary-free feed, for those...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 12:01 PM

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