Purported ‘Criminal Justice Reform Advocates’ Show True Colors During Kyle Rittenhouse Trial – Opinion

You know, I’m not a lawyer, I don’t play one on TV, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. However, even I know when to look for bad opinions on criminal trials and social media is full of them.

As we’ve previously reported, the prosecution in the closely-watched Kyle Rittenhouse trial has suffered from numerous shall we say “setbacks” over the last few days, among them the judge in the case (Judge Bruce Schroeder) repeatedly ripping them new ones, and the biggest development being that one of the prosecution’s star witnesses admitted that Rittenhouse only shot at him after he (the witness) pointed a gun at him.

This was the moment that Kenosha District attorney James Kraus (who is also one of the prosecutors) decided to facepalm the year live on TV.

Grosskreutz witnesses Rittenhouse shooting. He admits that he was only shot when he opened fire on Kyle. pic.twitter.com/yvzeowUzF3

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) November 8, 2021

Now, back to the hot takes. Rittenhouse’s testimony was filled with them, and he began crying. The actor Ricky Schroder’s name trended for a time, presumably because a) he helped fund Rittenhouse’s bond and posed for a picture with him, and b) he’s done some pretty convincing crying scenes in some of his movies/TV shows or something.

It was interesting to me that many of the Rittenhouse leftists were criminal justice reform advocates. You may recall that one thing criminal justice reform advocates fight for is for more fairness for defendants in criminal trials because in their view they rarely get fair shakes and oftentimes get railroaded by a “system” that supposedly automatically assumes guilt, especially for defendants of color.

Bakari Sellers from South Carolina is one such advocate. He has been involved in a variety of high-profile cases locally and can sometimes be seen commenting on reporters here.

Sellers, then 22, rose to prominence by being elected the youngest (22) member to the state legislative in 2006 over an incumbent. After eight years, he became the Democratic Lt. Governor. He was the Democratic Lt. Gov. after a disastrous campaign. Sellers is a well-known Democrat national figure, having spoken at the DNC and building a portfolio of work with black politicos such as former President Barack Obama. Sellers served as the co-chair for Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign in 2019.

Sellers has been a vocal advocate for reforming criminal justice. He speaks often about the issue during media interviews and social media. tweetedThis is Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.).

“Honestly, we knew Criminal Justice reform was dead when we read last week that @Sen_JoeManchin weighed in. That man could care less about Justice issues.”

You can trust me to tell you that Manchin is not getting the endorsement of fellow Democrat Sellers. big point in Manchin’s favor, as I suspect you’ll agree when you see what he tweeted about Rittenhouse crying:

To win the Oscar, he went for the ugly cry. This gives me Tropic Thunder vibes. https://t.co/mMB3bpSsGB

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) November 10, 2021

This was also a bad trending topic on Twitter (just to show the absurdity of mind-numbing stupidity)

Continue to enjoy the scorching heat from this smart group.The scorching hot takes from the smart set continue. 🥴🙄 pic.twitter.com/DwO9UWNAqo

— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) November 10, 2021

As to Sellers’ comment, it was a sentiment expressed by many leftists on Twitter, some of them with large followings. But Sellers’ comments, in particular, stuck out to me, perhaps because of the Carolinas connection.

The way he had written it made me feel all sorts of irritated. I’m not here to tell people what they should and shouldn’t say, but I danged sure will tell them how dumb (not to mention unprofessional) they sound when they say it if that’s the opinion I’ve formed. This is from a *criminal defense attorney* and one who, as I noted earlier, is a proponent of criminal justice reform in part on the basis that defendants often get raw deals.

On Twitter, I replied accordingly with the following: commentYou can find this link:

“Man on trial for killing in self-defense and these are the types of scorching hot takes we get from our enlightened betters on the left. When/if Rittenhouse is cleared of the charges I hope he sues the hell out people like Bakari Sellers for defamation – and wins.”

Then there’s the best part: this oneYou can find this link:

“Most of the people spilling lattes all over their custom-made Armani suits to get to their computers to rail on Kyle Rittenhouse are the same people who proclaim we need criminal justice reform in part so defendants can receive fairer trials. This is a truly illuminating moment. 🙄🥴”

I guess maybe for Sellers and those who agree with him, there are exceptions to the “we shouldn’t judge a defendant until all the facts come out” rule (and let’s hope it’s not based on a person’s race, because that would mean Sellers is a racist). Sellers has been disappointed by the fact that the Rittenhouse trial had already proved the facts. prosecutionIt has been repeated over and again, though unintentionally.

As the old saying goes, you’re entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. And as the modern version (via Ben Shapiro) of that goes, facts don’t care about your feelings, either, and that goes double for pompous lawyers who have distinguished legal pedigrees but who also happen to talk out of both sides of their mouth.

See also: Here’s Why the Prog Left Are Running Away From ‘Woke’ as Fast as They Can