Law enforcement experts are puzzled by a Wisconsin prosecutor’s request on Wednesday for an arrest warrant and increased bail for murder suspect Kyle Rittenhouse, attracting further scrutiny for his high-profile case.
In a bizarre twist on Wednesday, it appeared that prosecutors were unaware of the whereabouts of Rittenhouse, 18, after lawyers did not notify the court of the address of a “safe house” where he allegedly resided, raising questions about why. Rittenhouse was not being monitored more closely in the first place.
“I don’t understand why you didn’t tell the district attorney and the police the location of a defendant accused of first-degree murder,” said Jim Cavanaugh, a terrorism analyst at NBC News, retired special agent for the Federal Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Weapons Fire and Explosives.
Rittenhouse was accused of killing two people during protests against the police shooting at Jacob Blake in Kenosha last summer.
The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office claimed on Wednesday that Rittenhouse violated his bail conditions by failing to notify the court of the change of address and asked the court to issue an arrest warrant and increase his bail by $ 200,000. He also asked the court to order Rittenhouse to update his address immediately.
Rittenhouse was released from Kenosha County Jail on $ 2 million bail in November, with donations made to his legal defense fund, largely by right-wing activists and conservative celebrities.
Rittenhouse’s lawyer, Mark Richards, claimed that the police advised his previous lawyer, John Pierce, not to provide the updated address.
“While filling out the paperwork related to Kyle’s release, attorney Pierce was informed directly by a senior Kenosha Police Department official not to provide the Rittenhouse Safe House address because of the numerous threats made against Kyle and his family,” he said. Richards in response to the movement.
The Rittenhouse lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment by phone or email on Thursday.
Kenosha police refuted the allegation on Thursday, saying that although a police captain spoke to Pierce “about the safety concerns raised by Mr. Pierce about releasing Kyle Rittenhouse from custody,” the captain did not provided “instructions on how to complete the paperwork.”
NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, said: “It is unusual to lie to a court about where a client is residing. There is no excuse to say that someone else told me to lie about it. That adds an insult to ethical injury. “
Rittenhouse’s lawyer said on Wednesday that lawyers contacted an assistant district attorney in November to discuss providing a new address if prosecutors agreed to a sealed case, but that the prosecutor’s office refused.
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Cavanaugh said “it is unusual to deal with a defendant in a safe house” and that he could understand why Rittenhouse’s defense did not want the address to be released, saying it is a reasonable request to ensure that Rittenhouse gets his day in court. Still, he said, authorities and prosecutors “need to know” where the defendant is, especially if he is receiving the threats alleged by Rittenhouse’s defense.
Kirschner said that when he was a prosecutor, his department kept the court informed of where the defendant was, no matter what. A simple rule, he said, is: “Don’t lie to the court.”
“There are so many appropriate ways to take care of the circumstances in the Rittenhouse case that it does not involve telling the judge lies,” he said.
