Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyers on Wednesday asked the judge for the second time in a week to declare a mistrial, this time arguing the defense received an inferior copy of a key video from prosecutors.
Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi told Judge Bruce Schroeder his team would have approached the case differently had it received the higher-quality video earlier. He said his newest motion for a mistrial would be made “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors could try Rittenhouse again if the judge grants the mistrial.
“We didn’t have the quality of evidence the state had until the case had been closed,” Chirafisi argued.
Defense attorneys have taken issue with drone video used by prosecutors showing the shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum. They said prosecutors provided them with a “compressed version” of the video that “was not as clear as the video kept by the state.”
They accused prosecutors of doing it intentionally, calling the video the “linchpin” of the state’s case in an earlier mistrial motion they filed.
The higher-quality video was given to the defense after testimony ended and before closing arguments.
“We have to ask for this, and I’m asking for this. We understand that it’s going to be without prejudice. We understand the state can redo this case if the court grants it, we understand they will do it again,” Chirafisi said. “But then I think we will all have the same information, the same quality of videos, and I think that is required in a case like this where he’s looking at a life sentence potentially without parole if he’s convicted.”
Prosecutors countered that when the jury saw the highest-quality version of the video, it was played without objection.
MISTRIAL MOTIONS LOOM OVER RITTENHOUSE TRIAL AS JURY DELIBERATES, ASKS TO SEE DRONE VIDEO FOOTAGE
The attorneys hashed out who had access to the video and when.
“The defendant’s first attorney, Mr. [John] Pierce, appeared on the Tucker Carlson show and discussed the video and seemingly brought the video,” said Assistant District Attorney James Kraus. “We’ve been told since then by the person who had the footage that they’ve sold the video to Fox News.”
The footage in question appears to have been shown on Fox News exclusively, according to an online report from the network dated Sept. 22, 2020. Kraus claimed the footage aired on Fox “a couple days after” the shooting incident in Kenosha and it “apparently was on the internet briefly and then taken down.”
Rittenhouse’s legal team filed a motion for a mistrial earlier this week after they learned the prosecution had a high-definition video of Rittenhouse shooting the first victim. The defense team argued Wednesday the copy of the drone footage from the state does not match what jurors viewed, saying it should not be shown when they return to the courtroom to continue deliberation.
Prosecutors said they were unaware the defense had a lower-quality version of the video until last week and suggested the video may have been compressed because they used an iPhone to send the footage to Natalie Wisco, a member of the defense team, who had an Android device.
Kraus said he couldn’t explain how the video was compressed on Wisco’s device but argued, “There was no different copy.”
The present defense attorney for Rittenhouse, Mark Richards, contended the video Pierce showed on Carlson’s show is very different from the video that was delivered” to Wisco. Richards also suggested the video source may be questionable, noting the owner of the footage was a company in Lake Geneva, near Kenosha, and shut itself down 17 days after the video footage was released.
Schroeder did not immediately rule on the mistrial request but recalled what he said earlier this week in a warning to the prosecution, noting if the technology used to enhance the footage is eventually disproved, the case could fall like a “house of cards.”
Jurors had requested to see three other videos but did not request to see the drone footage on Wednesday.
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The Washington Examiner attempted to contact Pierce and Fox News but did not receive a response.
