Kyle Rittenhouse's ex-lawyer who predicted teen would be found not guilty a year ago says prosecution 'knew they would lose and were just making a political point'

November 17, 2021 - Journalist Harriet Alexander - Daily Mail

• Kyle Rittenhouse's former lawyer, John Pierce, on Tuesday told Fox News he felt that the case was without merit and the prosecution knew they would lose

• Pierce said that he felt the case was being pursued to make a political point and he expected Rittenhouse to be acquitted

• A year ago, while representing Rittenhouse - which he did from shortly after the August 25 shooting until December 2020 - he predicted the gun charge would be dismissed

• Pierce insisted Rittenhouse was carrying the weapon legally in Wisconsin

An attorney who initially represented Kyle Rittenhouse before they acrimoniously parted ways said on Tuesday that the teenager was always going to be acquitted, describing the case as politically-motivated 'malicious prosecution'.

John Pierce, a high-profile former tank platoon commander who has made a name for himself representing multiple pro-Trump defendants - including 17 of the Capitol rioters - said that the trial was a sham.

Pierce, 49, told Fox News on Tuesday: 'This case should have never been brought.

'In my view, this is blatant prosecutorial misconduct. It's malicious prosecution.'

Pierce, who runs how own Los Angeles-based firm, was hired by Rittenhouse shortly after the August 25, 2020 shooting.

On August 30, 2020, Pierce told Breitbart that the case was without merit.

'We're going to trial,' said Pierce.

'We're going to win this case. If I'm the prosecutor, I drop these charges immediately.

'I think that this is a rush of judgment, and if I was the prosecutor, I would be terrified to take this case to trial.

'I do not believe that there's a jury in this country that's going to look at these facts and is going to find him guilty for murder.'

Pierce said at the time that Rittenhouse's case was 'absolute 100 percent self-defense, and we're going to prove it if we have to.'

He added: 'It was legal for him to possess that weapon in Wisconsin.'

On Tuesday, Pierce said that he was confident his prediction over a year ago would stand.

'In a radio interview that I did on Breitbart just a few days after the shootings, I said that that charge should not have been brought, and that it was going to go away at some point,' he said.

On Monday, Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed the sixth charge, of unlawful possession of a firearm, as Pierce predicted.

'He was legally entitled to have that firearm with him,' he said.