Kenosha ADA Thomas Binger was leading the charge in court earlier today against Kyle Rittenhouse by getting him held on a king's ransom of $2,000,000 on two counts of murder despite the fact that video evidence clearly shows that Rittenhouse was defending himself (https://copblaster.com/blast/25933/criminal-complaint-against-kyle-rittenhouse-describes-self-defense). We reviewed the criminal complaint as well as the video footage of the incident in correct chronological order and concluded that Rittenhouse was defending himself.
We at Cop Blaster hate blue backers, so we would normally not advocate for a Back the Blue supporter like Rittenhouse, but what we hate even more is charging people with crimes they did not commit. That is why we are supporting Rittenhouse's self defense claims in this case. We believe that he was attacked by Joseph Rosenbaum, a convicted sex offender with a prior conviction for molesting a minor (https://copblaster.com/blast/25931/so-called-kenosha-victim-joseph-rosenbaum-was-a-sex-offender), was running from Rosenbaum trying his best to flee, and only shot him when Rosenbaum closed within feet of him. It was after that self defense shooting that people started chasing him down the street yelling stuff like "he just shot somebody," "beat him up," and "get him" before he fell, Anthony Huber hit him in the head with a skateboard, and only then did Rittenhouse start shooting.
The arguments made by Mr. Binger and others on the government's side today painted the opposite picture. Most vocal was John Huber, the father of Anthony Huber. He lied to the court by saying "he was two businesses away when he chased that guy down and shot him in the head." Nothing could be further from the truth, if you don't believe us watch the video (https://copblaster.com/blast/25930/kenosha-protester-shot-in-self-defense-by-kyle-rittenhouse). Unfortunately, there is next to nothing that defense lawyers can do about people lying in court at bail hearings, especially if they are named as victims in a case or are family members dead named victims. Mr. Huber's statements were not under oath, so he can't be charged with perjury. Defense lawyers are always hesitant to call people like Huber out in court out because judges are more likely to get mad at them for attacking a "victim" than they are to discount what the "victim" said. This allows anyone named as a "victim" by the government to use bail hearings as a soap box to spread lies with impunity.
Huber's comments were followed by those of attorney Kimberly Motley on behalf of Gaige Grosskreutz. Grosskreutz was the armed man whose arm was nearly shot off after pulling a gun on Rittenhouse. Grosskreutz has become a bit of a media drama queen since the incident going around crying about his arm. Motley said that her client feared for his safety, that Rittenhouse is a flight risk, danger to the community, etc., and although she made some statements of opinion that we do not agree with, we could not identify any materially false statements.
Court Commissioner Loren Keating then set bail at $2,000,000 noting that the charges are serious and Rittenhouse had left the state only to be returned after contested extradition hearings. The amount of $2,000,000 is not unusual when a defendant faces two counts of murder, especially for the first appearance, so we don't think Keating did anything out of the ordinary by setting it so high. If anything, this bail amount shows one of many flaws in the system. A system where a defendant will lose at least a year of his life to pretrial detention despite clear and convincing video evidence showing that he acted in self defense.
It is the job of prosecutors like Binger to make their decisions based on the law and the evidence, not public opinion. Just because there is an enormous public outcry demanding something be done does not justify doing something. People that disagree with us typically argue irrelevancies like his gun being illegally possessed, him traveling across state lines, or the fact that he knew his presence would be unwelcome. None of those things forfeited his right to self defense. He had a duty to retreat, which he did his best to do, and that was it. The only chance the government has at a conviction is if they get an unreasonable jury that votes with their hearts instead of their minds like most jurors do. That is why it is on prosecutors not to make charging decisions based on what they think most jurors would want because most jurors want what they want and don't care about the law. Due to a complete lack of proper checks and balances at the trial court level this case will most likely be left in the hands of an incompetent jury to decide. That is of course unless Rittenhouse gets a good judge in which case a judge trial would be better. A good judge would conclude that there is zero evidence of Rittenhouse provoking people for the specific purpose of provoking a response that would justify self defense. That is the only way that Rittenhouse's conduct could legally not be considered self defense. People say to us online that his presence alone was the provocation. If that argument were to work in court it would mean that nobody who open carries could legally defend themselves if they do it around people they know would be offended by their presence.
Public records contain the following information about Thomas Binger:
THOMAS CLAIR BINGER
AGE: 50
GENDER: MALE
Last Known Home Address:
3817 HAVEN AVE
RACINE, WI 53405-2325
Possible Email Addresses:
flufferboy2004[at]yahoo.com
tomb[at]dkblaw.com
Possible Phone Numbers:
(414) 915-4040
(414) 442-9996
We are posting this information to encourage non-violent activities only. Activities like peacefully protesting at that address. We ask that if you picket his place that you do not harm people or property. We would of course be happy to remove that information should Binger's office drop all charges except for the charge of being a minor in possession of a firearm or if Binger removes himself from the case.