A screenshot from the cell phone video.
A screenshot from the cell phone video.
Kyle Rittenhouse's fatal shooting of two men in Kenosha was can be justified as self defense, according to civil rights attorney Robert Barnes.
“By all evidence I see, Rittenhouse's actions were entirely consistent within his rights of self defense under Wisconsin law,” Barnes told the Kenosha Reporter.
Cell phone footage of the shooting shows 17-year-old Rittenhouse on the ground as aggressors approach him when he fires the rifle he is carrying. Two were killed in the shooting and one was injured.
Robert Barnes
Rittenhouse told the Daily Caller hours before the shooting that he was protecting businesses in the area after days of rioting, looting and arson.
"So people are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business," the Rittenhouse said. "And part of my job is to also help people. If there is somebody hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle -- because I can protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit."
Rittenhouse has been charged with first-degree homicide. He was arrested in Illinois and is awaiting transfer to Wisconsin.
Barnes, a Los Angeles-based trial attorney, has a nationwide practice with reach in Wisconsin.
He said the Black Lives Matter manipulates the narratives of shootings, such as Rittenhouse's, for political benefit.
“As a long time civil rights lawyer, with many cases in Wisconsin over the years, I feel BLM seeks divisive cases for their politicized agenda that often fail to distinguish between police abuse and justifiable shootings,” Barnes said.
On Twitter Barnes was more emphatic about unequal treatment between arsonists and looters and those like Rittenhouse who are trying to protect businesses where police and even the Wisconsin National Guard have been unable.
“Anyone defending themselves against #antifa gets prosecuted, whether by brandishing a gun, driving their vehicle, or using a weapon for self-defense, while many of the same prosecutors let rioters walk,” Barnes said on Twitter. “This weaponization of the prosecutorial process threatens the rule of law.”
Barnes further part of a formula to maintain power has always been to exert unequal treatment, not serve fundamental justice, and the perversion of such power is antithetical to the country's basic principles.
“Civil rights protects everyone, and unites America, not divides her; what too many in BLM seek is political power rather than universal civil rights,” Barnes said.
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