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Kenosha Kyle Rittenhouse shooter MAGA-Loving defense team implodes
As Kyle Rittenhouse awaits trial for killing two people at a Kenosha, Wis., Black Lives Matter protest this summer, his attorneys have been in the crosshairs of prosecutors. Rittenhouse’s lawyers have garnered almost as much attention as him. at. Now 17-year-old senior attorney John Pierce is out of the case after prosecutors argued that fundraising for Rittenhouse could act as a “slush fund” for the beleaguered lawyer. Another prominent lawyer who partnered with Rittenhouse, Lin Wood, also appears to have moved away from the case in order to focus his efforts on reversing President Donald Trump’s election defeat in 2020. Rittenhouse has been charged with reckless homicide after shooting dead two people and injuring a third person during the August demonstration. He has pleaded not guilty and says he acted in self-defense Lawyer raising money for Kyle Rittenhouse nearly sank his own law firm Pierce and Wood became Rittenhouse champions shortly after his arrest . Earlier this year, the pair banded together to start the “FightBack” foundation, an organization with a nebulous set of missions, many of which have apparently pleaded right-wing grievances with the media. Some of the foundation’s funds were redirected to Pierce’s own law firm. The launch of FightBack came at a special time for Pierce. The law firm he runs has been sued by at least four payday lenders and a legal services firm this year, all alleging unpaid bills, The Daily Beast previously reported. In April, another lender accused the firm of their owed $ 65 million. The debts, plus an unspecified rehab trip for Pierce earlier this year, aligned with a recent exodus of more than 60 lawyers from Pierce’s firm. Pierce and Wood announced the FightBack Foundation as a way for Rittenhouse fans – of which there are many on the right – to give money to his defense. But in a court appearance Thursday, prosecutors argued that the flow of money could serve as a “slush fund” to pay off Pierce’s debts. Pierce had no income and monthly expenses of $ 49,481, prosecutors alleged in a motion. He also had approximately $ 1.2 million in debt and was being sued for allegedly breaching the rental agreement for his $ 1.3 million home. “This creates a potential conflict of interest for lawyer Pierce,” the motion reads, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. “Given his own substantial personal debts, his involvement in an unregulated and opaque ‘slush fund’ provides ample opportunity for personal transactions and fraud. The more donations the Foundation collects, the more it can personally benefit. Money that should be held in trust for the defendant can instead be used to pay off Lawyer Pierce’s many creditors. Pierce denied the allegations in an email to the Daily Beast. “The allegations you are referring to are ridiculous,” he wrote. “All funds are controlled by Kyle’s mother, Wendy. Moreover, I have no affiliation with this foundation. (In fact, Pierce was affiliated with FightBack until September, when he resigned the day after a Daily Beast report revealed his contributions to his law firm.) Prosecutors also claimed Pierce had breached rules on the conduct of lawyers, accusing him of potentially influencing future jurors. with complaints about the district attorney handling the case. On Twitter, Pierce stoked anger at District Attorney Michael Graveley, saying he was “in active (and oddly familiar) communication via text message with the main BLM activist for six weeks before, during and after the riots.” This brand of gun coffee was MAGA Royalty. Then he turned to Kyle Rittenhouse. Pierce and fellow Rittenhouse defense attorney Andrew Calderon announced Thursday that they would withdraw from the case, shortly after prosecutors filed motions to disqualify them. Pierce told the Daily Beast that the withdrawal “was always the plan”. “Now that we’ve been successful I got Kyle bailed out and built an incredible criminal defense team in Wisconsin,” he said, “I turn my attention to the massive libel prep tasks of Kyle and other civil lawsuits, as well as on orchestrating our new fundraising efforts to ensure that we These fundraising efforts, however, may be in flux, as the FightBack Foundation turns its attention away from Rittenhouse and turns to undoing Trump’s 2020 loss. “For the foreseeable future, FightBack will focus on exposing fraud on the Nov. 3. election,” Wood tweeted last week. (He is currently involved in lawsuits. long-term contesting election results and peddled false theories of voter fraud at a press conference this week.) “In the future, anyone who wants to donate for Kyle should conta cter his criminal defense attorney, John Pierce Neither Wood nor Pierce answered questions on Friday about Pierce’s relationship with fundraising now that he is no longer Rittenhouse’s attorney. Wood’s tweet also signaled that he was withdrawing from Rittenhouse’s case. “Lin has stepped down from portraying Kyle,” Pierce confirmed to The Daily Beast. Because Wood, who primarily handles libel cases, was never officially Rittenhouse’s criminal attorney, his exact relationship with Rittenhouse’s legal team is unclear. “I am not and I was never a criminal lawyer for Kyle. I am a civil lawyer,” Wood told The Daily Beast. He added that Pierce was no longer associated with FightBack, which the prosecutors, was a potential Pierce slush fund. “John Pierce is not affiliated with my foundation,” said Wood. “I understand Mark Richards is Kyle’s Wisconsin criminal attorney.” Richards, an attorney for the defense for Racine, Wisconsin, confirmed that neither of the other two attorneys represented Rittenhouse in the homicide case. “I represent Kyle in the criminal case. pierce & wood are not, ”he wrote to the Daily Beast in an email. “We are very grateful for all the support of the two people, the foundation and the prople who donated. [sic]For more, head over to The Daily Beast. Get our best stories delivered to your inbox every day. Register now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside delves deeper into the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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