Analysis: To testify or not: U.S. teen Rittenhouse faces risky decision in self-defense trial

KENOSHA, Wis., Nov 8 (Reuters) – When George Zimmerman confronted existence in prison for killing Trayvon Martin, his attorneys chose not to have him testify, a decision some legal authorities say contributed to his acquittal in 2013 in the past hugely divisive civilian self-protection demo.

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen on trial for killing two protesters and wounding a third in Wisconsin last year, appears set to consider a diverse tack. His attorney, Mark Richards, reported in court docket past 7 days that he would take the stand in his own protection.

Legal specialists say it is obviously risky for Rittenhouse to give evidence. For starters, it would open up him up to extensive-ranging cross-examination about his past statements and actions.

“The annals of criminal regulation are entire of cases where by defendants insisted on having the stand and paid the value,” Daniel Medwed, a professor of felony legislation at Northeastern College.

For case in point, California girl Jodi Arias was convicted in 2013 of murdering her ex-boyfriend and sentenced to everyday living with out parole, immediately after testifying that she had completed so in self-defense.

The opportunity upside for Rittenhouse is that jurors would be in a position to listen to in his individual words why he thought he had to shoot for his individual basic safety.

Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with reckless and intentional homicides in the killing of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and attempted homicide for wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27, with a bullet to the arm.

Like Zimmerman, Rittenhouse is a divisive determine. He is a hero to some conservatives who consider in unfettered gun rights and see the shootings as justified, though several on the political still left have labeled him a vigilante killer.

If convicted, he faces a sentence of existence in jail. His lawyers have said they will present Rittenhouse acted in self-defense: that he fired the fatal shots out of concern for his personal lifetime for the duration of chaotic protests that were sparked by the law enforcement shootings of a Black gentleman in Kenosha.

Rittenhouse’s legal professionals may perhaps eventually make your mind up that placing him on the stand is not worth the threat, in particular if the trial seems to be transferring in their favor.

In the course of the very first 7 days of the trial, they elicited testimony from multiple witnesses supporting their argument that Rosenbaum provoked the teenager, a important aspect in direction of justifying the use of deadly power.

The exact range of prison defendants who just take the stand at their trials is not distinct. A single analyze, posted in the Cornell Legislation Overview in 2009 by professors Theodore Eisenberg and Valerie Hans, uncovered that in 300 criminal trials in four counties, about half of defendants testified.

They found that 60{e421c4d081ed1e1efd2d9b9e397159b409f6f1af1639f2363bfecd2822ec732a} of defendants without having prison data testified, in comparison to 45{e421c4d081ed1e1efd2d9b9e397159b409f6f1af1639f2363bfecd2822ec732a} of individuals with legal records, which the authors explained probably mirrored defendants’ get worried that their records would be employed to undermine them. About 77{e421c4d081ed1e1efd2d9b9e397159b409f6f1af1639f2363bfecd2822ec732a} of defendants who testified ended up convicted, compared to about 72{e421c4d081ed1e1efd2d9b9e397159b409f6f1af1639f2363bfecd2822ec732a} of those who did not.

Nevertheless Rittenhouse did not have a criminal file ahead of the shootings on Aug. 25, 2020, Medwed said assaults on cross-examination could increase to “any cases in which Rittenhouse has lied, or is rumored to have lied.” For that cause, Medwed mentioned, legal professionals generally counsel their consumers versus testifying.

Still, he reported, the risk of testifying can be worthwhile mainly because jurors “the natural way want to hear the other facet,” even while a defendant has no authorized obligation to show innocence. That may perhaps apply specifically when a defendant, like Rittenhouse, is asserting self-protection.

“In a self-protection circumstance, it is generally very hard for the defendant to get devoid of testifying merely mainly because there is no other way for the jurors to learn about the situation that led the defendant to assume that self-protective force was important,” said Michael O’Hear, a professor at Marquette Regulation School.

One more important element is more subjective: will the jury like the defendant?

Don West, a person of Zimmerman’s trial legal professionals, claimed the defense made the decision they did not will need Zimmerman’s testimony for the reason that forensic proof and statements Zimmerman experienced designed to police were sufficient to aid his situation.

But West also reported he considered Zimmerman would not have been treated rather had he taken the stand.

“He was reviled. He was the most hated man for a extensive time,” West mentioned. “The emphasis would have been so intense on him that he wouldn’t have gotten the gain of any question.”

On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman, who was then a neighborhood view captain in a gated group in Sanford, Florida, fatally shot Martin right after the teen’s excursion to a advantage retailer to invest in treats. The incident helped spark the rise of the Black Life Subject movement.

Patrick Cafferty, a felony defense lawyer in Wisconsin, claimed he thinks Rittenhouse will testify. He explained he saw value in the teenager telling the jury directly that he feared for his daily life.

“I assume the reward outweighs the risk,” Cafferty said.

Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York and Nathan Layne in Kenosha, Wisconsin Enhancing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis

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