Attorney promising many lawsuits
Rittenhouse lawyer seeking new money
Kyle Rittenhouse’s original lawyer says he is no longer part of his criminal defense team, but he is still trying to raise money for his client through a brand new website, and planning a different kind of defense.
John Pierce told the host of a show on Newsmax TV that he’s preparing “probably the most significant case of defamation in the history of the country,” against defendants like President-elect Joe Biden, Facebook, CNN and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Newsmax is a conservative news site that backs President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
As of last week, Pierce had expanded that list to “thousands” of suits, and even actor Mark Ruffalo is in his Twitter cross-hairs.
Pierce said some of those targets have referred to Rittenhouse as a white supremacist and a mass murderer, “all of which is completely untrue and defamatory. So there are going to be a lot of lawsuits coming.”
He stuck with hyperbole in describing his client’s criminal case, where Rittenhouse faces charges of intentional, reckless and attempted homicide from the Aug. 25 shootings in Kenosha.
“Let me say this is probably the most important case in the history of self-defense in the American legal system,” Pierce said.
“We’re going to need millions of dollars more.”
Whether he’ll get it this time remains an open question. Since the first round of donations at the start of the case, Pierce has parted ways with Lin Wood, an Atlanta lawyer with nearly 750,000 followers on conservative social media, and there’s been wider reporting about Pierce’s myriad financial troubles.
Pierce, a Los Angeles civil litigator, faces several collection actions for hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars from past litigation funders and vendors. A Texas-based foundation he started with Wood — now focused on trying to thwart Georgia elections — already raised about $2 million for Rittenhouse’s defense. Some of it was probably paid to Pierce and other lawyers, and some might have gone to posting Rittenhouse’s $2 million bail, but neither Wood, Pierce nor the foundation has provided a clear accounting.
Some of the people who donated — including a woman who says she gave $800,000 — have started demanding answers and threatening their own lawsuits. In his latest solicitations, Pierce has said all donations will be held in trust “and controlled by Kyle’s mother,” Wendy Rittenhouse, with whom Pierce has appeared at Republican functions and interviews with both conservative and mainstream news outlets since Rittenhouse’s arrest.
Pierce did not respond to an email inquiring about the trust arrangement.
Assuming Pierce would still have influence over how the money gets spent, he would arguably still be involved in the defense of the criminal case. And he could construe defense to include defense of Rittenhouse’s reputation, to justify using donations to pursue the defamation actions.
Presumably, the main purpose of the money going forward would be to pay Rittenhouse’s actual defense attorney, Mark Richards of Racine, and expenses related to preparing the defense such as investigators and experts.
In a brief opposing Pierce’s admission to practice in Wisconsin, Kenosha prosecutors said a Madison criminal defense attorney, Corey Chirafisi, had joined Richards, but Chirafisi has not filed a formal appearance in the case. That could suggest Pierce hasn’t come up with the money to pay Chirafisi’s retainer.
Neither Chirafisi nor Richards returned requests to discuss that situation.
His lawyers say, and many others agree, that Rittenhouse could have a strong case of self-defense based on videos that show his victims chasing, attacking or aiming a gun at him before he shot them.
But Pierce’s efforts to raise money could hurt his client’s position at trial. Since Rittenhouse left jail, Pierce has posted numerous photos of his client and his mother smiling happily, images prosecutors might try to utilize against him
Chris Van Wagner, a well-known Madison criminal defense attorney, recently tweeted to another lawyer, “Is it just me or does anyone else think a Kenosha DA is already marking these ‘happy face’ pics for cross when asking the accused how it felt to kill?”