TRAIN WRECK: Rittenhouse Prosecution Implodes With State Witness Richard McGinnis of Daily Caller

Legal Insurrection ^ | 4 Nov 21 | Andrew Branca

[Politically Correct]

TRAIN WRECK: Rittenhouse Prosecution Implodes With State Witness Richard McGinnis of Daily Caller

This is NOT supposed to be how the direct examination of your own witnesses is done.

Posted by Andrew Branca Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 02:03pm 73 Comments

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I’ll cover all of this in greater detail in my end-of-day analysis but couldn’t resist getting this out to all of you promptly.

The direct questioning of STATE witness Richard McGinnis by ADA Binger was an absolute trainwreck for the prosecution–and, of course, the jury watched it all happen in real-time.

UPDATE: To provide some context, for more than 12 minutes ADA Binger tried to get McGinnis to testify that Rosenbaum was already falling to the ground when Rittenhouse began shooting him–in other words, that Rittenhouse simply executed Rosenbaum by shooting him in the back when he was helplessly falling.

The actual exchange is in the video, so you can watch it for yourself, but a reasonable paraphrase would go something like this:

Binger: So Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum, in the back, as he was falling, correct?

McGinnis: No, Rittenhouse didn’t fire until Rosenbaum charged and lunged at him.

Binger: So he shot him as he was falling?

McGinnis: No, not falling, lunging.

Binger: So you’re saying he shot him while he was falling?

McGinnis: No, that’s not my testimony. Lunging.

This is NOT how it’s supposed to be done, folks.

Talk to you all again when we do our end-of-day analysis this evening.

–Andrew

Attorney Andrew F. Branca
Law of Self Defense LLC

[Cboldt]

-- If the prosecution is obligated to bring the case to court (I'm not precisely sure where the obligation would come from ... --

Prosecutorial ethics. Roughly don't bring a case unless the facts incline to a guilty verdict. Prosecutor is supposed to have a grasp on affirmative defense side too, self defense in this case - but the ethical rules do not say this expressly. Bringing a case solely due to political pressure is an ethical violation.

There is generally no penalty or risk for making an ethical violation. The rule is a paper tiger. ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct -- there is probably a state version of this

The prosecutor in a criminal case shall:

(A) Not institute or continue to prosecute a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause;

(B) Make reasonable efforts to assure that the accused has been advised of the right to, and the procedure for obtaining, counsel and has been given reasonable opportunity to obtain counsel;

(C) Not seek to obtain from an unrepresented accused a waiver of important pretrial rights unless the tribunal has approved the appearance of the accused in propria persona;

(D) Make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that the prosecutor knows or reasonably should know tends to negate the guilt of the accused, mitigate the offense, or mitigate the sentence, except when the prosecutor is relieved of this responsibility by a protective order of the tribunal; and ...

Rule 5-110 Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor

[RinaseaofDs]

Malicious compliance on behalf of the AD? Interesting.

[left that other site]

Isn’t that called “Badgering the Witness?”

[762X51]

Simple. Succinct. Accurate. You sir have a firm grasp on the solution.

[Pajamajan]

Very strange- the number of people (5) from the same family-Antaramian family- connected to the prosecution.

[cuban leaf]

I think a book deal may be in his future. This isn’t the same as Zimmerman. Too many people see this kid as a hero. I certainly do.

Maybe politics is in his future.😉

[cuban leaf]

There is another message being sent by the prosecution: yeah we may lose this case but we sure F’d this kids life up didn’t we?

---

I also compare that to the Pearl Harbor “win”. This kid has a long life ahead of him, probably. This can be just the growth experience he needs to become a significant force once his brain fully developes (typically age 25).

Sometimes we learn the most from the things that hurt us the most.

[sergeantdave]

“If there is a next time the right properly uses force of violence in self defense, this prosecutor would charge them, too.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost every major study on defensive gun use has found that Americans use their firearms defensively between 500,000 and 3 million times each year. There’s good reason to believe that most defensive gun uses are never reported to law enforcement, much less picked up by local or national media outlets.

https://datavisualizations.heritage.org/firearms/defensive-gun-uses-in-the-us/

Well, look at that. That means between 500,000 and 3 million defensive uses of weapon were NOT prosecuted.

[joma89]

All democrats, including DA lawyers, are the enemy. Treat them as such.

[libertylover]

Don’t celebrate yet. Juries can be fickle and juries can completely ignore the evidence as they did in the OJ case and the George Floyd “murder” case.

[MercyFlush]

Seems to me these prosecutors need to be ousted from their jobs.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Agree this is in part to keep anyone else from helping to quell the ANTIFA/BLM riots.

[seowulf]

Yes, the prosecutor was leading a witness that refused to be led.

[BiteYourSelf]

Isn’t that called leading the witness?🤔

[BiteYourSelf]

When the Germans attacked?😏

[Blood of Tyrants]

Won’t have to. There’s already a $2 million dollar bail that was put up. Kyle is under no obligation to return it once he is acquitted.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Won’t have to. There’s already a $2 million dollar bail that was put up. Kyle is under no obligation to return it once he is acquitted.

[Texas Fossil]

Germans, ChiComs, Soros, some English officials.

The dispersion is broad and they are powerful enough to hard to prove were involved.

The Germans are still certain that they must rule Europe, and would prefer to rule the world. Totalitarianism appeals to their leaders.

[poconopundit]

I have a theory about the prosecution here:

{The prosecution's] job in this particular case is not to win. It is to make it clear to a large enough part of the BLM/ANTIFA/leftist part of the population that, when the case against Kyle loses handily (which is inevitable), this one does not rise to the level of their “righteous indignation” - and subsequent rioting

* * *

Wow, what you say makes a lot of sense.  The public is being played to prevent another round of burning down cities.

In fact the photo of the prosecutor released today of his reaction to the witness admitting he aimed his weapon at Rittenhouse at the 3-foot range suggests the prosecutor is overacting.

[SunkenCiv]

They’ll have to change their names and leave town when they lose — otherwise it’ll be analogous to what happened with that “autogoal” goalie back in the 1980s down in S America.