by Victoria Taft at PJMedia
For more than a year, prosecutors in the Kyle Rittenhouse case have possessed FBI spy video footage taken by a fixed wing plane flying above the Kenosha riots. Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense attorneys say they only learned of its existence recently. On Tuesday, the public finally got a look at it.
It’s pretty clear why the prosecution was playing hide-the-ball with the evidence and why Rittenhouse’s defense attorneys were the first to show it in court. Over prosecutorial objections, Judge Bruce Schroeder allowed Rittenhouse’s attorneys to use their opening statement to show photos, videos, and, yes, the FBI’s FLIR thermal images of the first of three shootings the night of August 25, 2020. It was an unusual move and one you’ll see more defense attorneys replicate in the future.
The thermal technology video answers more than a few questions about who started what on the night of August 25, 2020. The FBI’s video conflicts with a story line prosecutors told jurors earlier in the day in opening statements.
During pretrial motions, defense attorneys complained that they’d just been notified of the existence of the FBI thermal imaging videos. Prosecutors said they’d given defense attorneys a head’s up in September, about a month before the trial started on November 1.
The video looks like many you may have seen from war zones, as pilots with laser-guided munitions attempt to find terrorists, or the way the Border Patrol looks for those white-on-black images of illegal drug mules making their way over the southern border.
The FBI is now using the tool to collect intelligence over riot-ravaged cities like Kenosha. It’s unclear if it’s been used in other cities, but some Portland, L.A., and Seattle residents sure would like to see them.
The unique FBI video starts at :46 on this video seen on Twitter.
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