***
So a white male teenager who shot and killed & injured several people in the USA when he was basically protesting against BLM protests (while claiming he was "defending property") has been acquitted.
The teenager's behaviour (which included previously saying on video that he wanted to shoot protestors - a video which was not allowed) was appalling - he armed himself with an ASSAULT rifle (making his parents both culpable and inept, in my opinion), travelled to another town, joined with a group of other armed people (who appear to have some discipline, but probably not military/police style organisation and control - thus making them dangerous), and went INTO an already volatile situation (including going away from the property he was allegedly defending) where others - quite reasonably, in my opinion - gained the impression that he was an active shooter, and responded as would be expected.
The teenager was charged, and went to trial.
During the trial, the judge told the prosecutor he could not refer to the dead people as dead ...
It was an utterly staggering comment - and it was followed up with more unprofessional conduct, including what basically came across as a biased rant.
The conduct of that judge in grossly disrespecting the families & friends of those VICTIMS who WERE killed and his decisions about evidence and conduct damages public confidence in the US legal (it is not justice) system.
The jury's decision may well have been justified - the evidence on the charges showed the situation was possibly greyer than previously conveyed (but that also is an indictment of US laws), but had it been reached with a judge who seemed less partisan and a jury who weren't all white (as the victims all were, incidentally, but the lack of people of colour shows a limited understanding of the broader context), less damage would have been done.
For more on this, see:
- https://youtu.be/3xT6IWvN5NY;
- https://youtu.be/E2TKHm5d8g4;
- https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2021/11/20/kyle-rittenhouse-acquitted/;
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsins-self-defense-law-ensured-kyle-rittenhouses-acquittal-rcna6178;
- "Experts Are Warning That Kyle Rittenhouse’s Acquittal Might Inspire More Far-Right Extremist Violence";
- "‘A Double Standard of Justice’: Why Kyle Rittenhouse Was Acquitted and What’s Next";
- https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/11/19/metro/this-acquittal-is-stain-our-justice-system-mass-ri-officials-slam-rittenhouse-verdict/.
