Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense attorney suggested this weekend that the 18-year-old, who was recently acquitted of all charges, might take up a defamation case against certain media outlets.
Mark Richards told Fox News that much of the media’s initial coverage of the shootings that landed Rittenhouse in court was “wrong.”
“The trial proved that,” he added.
But even now, several mainstream media figures are still making false claims about Rittenhouse, Richards added, citing two examples: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough claiming Rittenhouse shot his rifle more than 60 times, when video footage shows he shot it only eight times. And MSNBC’s Joy Reid claiming he crossed state lines with a firearm in tow, when Rittenhouse himself testified in court that he did not have a gun until he arrived in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“It’s false and it makes me angry that they can’t take the time to at least get the generic, basic facts correct because it didn’t fit in the story they wanted to tell,” Richards said.
The attorney admitted there have been several civil lawyers who have approached Rittenhouse about pursuing a civil case.
“When I got involved in this case and there were a couple of other prominent lawyers who were involved and trying to make some calls and I said, ‘Look, all of your riches and civil lawsuits are going nowhere if this kid is found guilty of anything,’” he explained.
The possibility of Rittenhouse pursuing a defamation case came up after former Covington Catholic high school student Nick Sandmann suggested that Rittenhouse might have a case. Sandmann, who won his defamation case against CNN, said it is obvious the media deliberately lied about Rittenhouse.
The attorney who helped Sandmann win his defamation case agreed.
“I think Rittenhouse may be able to do the same thing [that Sandmann did] when commentators on MSNBC say he’s a school shooter, a White supremacist, even a vigilante,” attorney Todd McMurtry told Fox News.
“Lots of media people said he was a murderer,” he added, “and I think that’s actionable because that suggests that he committed a crime, and we now know that he didn’t.”
