The motion for a mistrial has boiled down to an argument over phones and filenames in the Rittenhouse trial today, with the judge ultimately saying that he’ll need to hear expert testimony to resolve this.
The defense has now said they will only request a mistrial without asking for prejudice, meaning Rittenhouse can be tried again if the motion is granted.
Here’s more from Fox News:
A dispute over Wisconsin drone video used in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial prompted the teenage defendant’s attorneys to file a motion seeking a mistrial Monday and double down Wednesday, the second day of jury deliberations in a case that could result in life imprisonment.
Rittenhouse’s defense attorneys Mark Richards and Corey Chirafisi said prosecutors supplied a 3.6 MB version of a drone video – when the version they had amounted to 11.2 MB. They said the resolution of the file they received came in at 480 by 212 pixels – compared to 1920 by 844 in the prosecution’s file.
They argued that the prosecution did not turn over the full-resolution video until two days before closing arguments began and after the time to turn over evidence had closed.
“During the jury instructions conference, the defense played their version for the court to review,” the attorneys wrote in a motion to dismiss Monday. “The state indicated that their version was much clearer and had their tech person come into court to review their clearer video.”
They asked the judge to declare the case a mistrial “with prejudice” – which would preclude a retrial.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said he doubted that Judge Schroeder would accept the defense’s initial mistrial request.
“Almost no chance the motion is granted,” he told Fox News Digital. “Discovery violations can result in sanctions, exclusion of evidence, and adverse jury instructions, but dismissal with prejudice is the last resort.”
On Wednesday, the defense team again asked for a mistrial without prejudice, meaning a new trial would remain a possibility, based on the miscommunication over the drone video.
“They’re probably asking for that in the alternative because they know the motion will never be granted with prejudice,” Rahamani said.
Judge Bruce Schroeder told attorneys he would wait until the jury requests the drone video to rule on a potential mistrial — but Rittenhouse’s defense countered that they are moving forward with the request regardless.
The prosecution argued Wednesday that they did not mean to give the defense a more compressed version of the drone video, and it only happened because it was transferred from an iPhone to an Android phone.
“They could have asked for a thumb drive, they could have asked for whatever,” Assistant District Attorney James Kraus said. “We’re not responsible for that.”
Schroeder said that a new evidentiary hearing may be necessary to get to the bottom of the dispute.
“We can’t resolve this now, because this is going to require expert testimony from people,” the judge said.
Below is video of the judge declaring the need for expert testimony to resolve the motion. It comes near the end of the video:
Unmitigated disaster. 😂🔥
ADA Krausse tries to send him self email to see if file name changes before Judge steps in and asks for competent testimony! 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/stEZ8rF2qt
— SCUBA MIKE🤿 (@mescubamike) November 17, 2021
It appears there will be no verdict today, as the jury has requested the video and the court is accommodating their request:
Separately, the jury during its second day of deliberations also requested different videos that were shown during the trial. A computer was being wiped to put the videos on so that the jury can view them. They had not requested to review the drone video at the heart of that dispute between prosecutors and the defense team.
I would absolutely hate for Rittenhouse to have to suffer through another trial. I hope the jury gets this one right and we can be done with it.