Kyle Rittenhouse claimed his former lawyers, Lin Wood and John Pierce, prolonged his jail time and gave him bad advice.
The 18-year-old, who on Friday was acquitted of all charges in the shooting of three men during political unrest last summer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson they raised over $1 million by Sept. 5, 2020, and could have filed to get him released on bail by the middle of that month.
Instead, Rittenhouse said he spent nearly three months behind bars.
RITTENHOUSE NOT GUILTY ON ALL FIVE CRIMINAL CHARGES
“Lin Wood was raising money on my behalf, and he held me in jail for 87 days, disrespected my wishes,” he said in the interview that aired Monday evening. “They said I was safer in jail instead of at home with my family.”
Rittenhouse said it was scary in jail and that he lost a good deal of weight, which he later gained back.
He was released from jail on Nov. 20, 2020, after his lawyers paid a $2 million bail with money raised by donors.
“[They were] trying to raise money so they could take it for their own benefit, not trying to set me free,” he said. “They wanted to keep me in jail until Nov. 20.”
Rittenhouse also said they gave him bad advice by telling him to do media interviews, including with the Washington Post. He said he should not have done that interview.
Wood left the case shortly after bond was posted and Rittenhouse fired Pierce, according to Kenosha News.
Mark Richards, Rittenhouse’s defense attorney who saw the case to its end, also criticized Wood and Pierce. He suggested in an interview with CNN that they were attempting to “whore” Kyle out for money.
Wood subsequently threatened to sue Richards for his comments unless he retracted them, Newsweek reported. He referred to his FightBack Foundation.
“You should be ashamed of denigrating me and #FightBack for our legal and good faith efforts to help Kyle,” Wood said. “Demand is hereby made that you immediately retract and correct your false accusations against me. If you do not do so, I will prove that you are right on one point you made on CNN — I will sue you.”
Pierce also issued a statement.
“Unfortunately, manufactured controversy, such as the social media speculation about the bail money is nothing more than a distraction designed to discredit me, as I prepare to defend many more people who are being abused for political gain,” he said.
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On Friday, a jury found Rittenhouse not guilty on all five charges in the fatal shooting of two men and the injuring of a third during the unrest in Kenosha in August 2020. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the riots, claimed he was acting in self-defense when he fired his rifle.
