KENOSHA, Wis. — There are now two motions from the defense for a mistrial in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse.
On Wednesday defense attorneys asked for a mistrial without prejudice, meaning the case could be tried in court again. The bulk of the request centers around drone video introduced by the state during the trial. Defense attorneys say it came in late, and that their copy was a lesser resolution.
The state says the video shows then 17-year-old Rittenhouse raise his gun at people before he fires at Joseph Rosenbaum, who died. This would poke holes in the defense case that Rittenhouse acted solely in self defense.
“The state has been putting all of their eggs in this basket," TMJ4 Legal Analyst Jonathan Lavoy said. "They keep talking about the provocation. The state wants this in desperately, they put so much into this video and likewise the defense wants it out.”
Earlier in the trial, the defense had motioned for a mistrial with prejudice when prosecutors started their questioning of the defendant. The judge put a ruling on that motion aside, as he did Wednesday with the second motion.
Lavoy says it would be rare for a judge to issue a mistrial with prejudice, unless the prosecutors purposefully threw the case. But it is likely that the judge will wait until the jurors have reached a verdict before making a ruling Only having to rule if Rittenhouse is found guilty, likely at the defense’s request.
“Asking the judge to basically remove the final decision before the jury, and basically leave it up to the judge,” said Lavoy.
If the case is retried, Lavoy said the same judge and prosecutors could be on the docket.
“I don’t know in this case if the same actors will want to do this all again, but yes it is generally put back on the trial calendar quickly and the state can bring it to trial again” he said.