Knucklehead Of The Week: Rittenhouse Prosecutor Thomas Binger… He Must’ve Been Absent That Day From Law School

This week’s decision on who to select as our top knucklehead was not an easy one, as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) provided stiff competition (pun intended, and more to follow) for this week’s honoree. But Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Binger – who has led the prosecution’s murder case against Kyle Rittenhouse – has made the trial look more like an episode from the 1980s sitcom “Night Court” than a high-profile trial receiving national attention. And speaking of TV lawyers, do you suppose Binger graduated from The University of America Samoa Law School like Jimmy McGill from “Better Call Saul?”  

Winner: Not only is Rittenhouse Prosecutor Thomas Binger no Perry Mason, he’s not even Joe Pesci’s character from My Cousin Vinny.

The most publicized incompetence displayed by Mr. Binger, the lead prosecutor in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, happened on Wednesday. It’s not often, after all, that we hear a judge admonish a lawyer the way in which Judge Bruce Schroeder ripped into Binger. Such scenes are especially rare when it’s done by a Democrat-appointed judge like Schroeder to a prosecution attorney in a case against an alleged white supremacist; an absurd allegation, by the way.

Binger was hammered for, among other things, not following the proper process regarding his attempt to admit evidence that had already been ruled inadmissible; particularly concerning a line of questioning of Rittenhouse. But most egregious was Binger’s “commenting on the defendant’s post-arrest silence,” for which Schroeder stated he was “astonished.” Anyone who has ever watched five minutes of Law and Order, or L.A. Law, or any of the other lawyer TV shows, knows that prosecutors can’t bring that stuff up. The whole, “you have the right to remain silent” and the Fifth Amendment thing.

But Binger’s demonstration of prosecutorial mastery didn’t end there. Consider these additional examples:

• Witness Richie McGinniss was called as a witness last week by Binger, so one might assume McGinniss would have been beneficial to the prosecution’s case. That assumption would be incorrect. Binger tried to make the case that McGinniss – and by proxy Rittenhouse – could not have known the intentions of Joseph Rosenbaum, a convicted child predator who was fatally shot by Rittenhouse:

Binger:   You have no idea what Mr. Rosenbaum was ever thinking… You have never been inside his head, you never met him before… so your interpretation is completely guesswork.

     McGinniss:   Um, well he said “Fu*k you” and he reached for his weapon.

• Many legal experts were shocked that Mr. Rittenhouse’s defense team allowed the defendant to testify on Wednesday, but this exchange showed the probable reason. Intellectually, Binger was no match for the teenager:

Binger:   You decided you needed to run because of the fire?

     Rittenhouse:   Yes.

     Binger:   Why?

     Rittenhouse:   Uh, it was a fire.

• Binger also called on a witness named Ryan Rauch, another less-than favorable witness for the prosecution. Consider this back-and-forth:

     Rauch:   When I turned around, Rosenbaum was right there in front of my face, yelling and screaming. I said, ‘Back up, chill, I don’t know what your problem is.’ He goes, ‘I catch any of you guys alone tonight, I’m going to fu*king kill you.”

     Binger:   Did he say that to you?

     Rauch:   Correct.

     Binger:   Did he say that to the defendant as well?

     Rauch:   Well, the defendant was there, so yes.

• And finally, we had this brilliant maneuver by the prosecution from Tuesday. Binger took a break from questioning witnesses, apparently exhausted from making a fool of himself, and allowed Assistant Prosecutor James Kraus to cross examine a defense witness. But make no mistake, it was Binger’s call to pursue this line of questioning, and the accusation by the witness was directed at Binger’s actions, not Kraus’. The witness was a photographer named Nathan DeBruin, who had stated that he’d been pressured by Binger to change his statement. DeBruin’s testimony included the following:

     Kraus:   We asked if you knew anything beyond that statement.

     DeBruin:   Correct.

     Kraus:   We didn’t ask you to change it?

     DeBruin:   Yes, yes you did.

Binger’s performance during the trial was so outrageously bad, there has even been speculation that some of this week’s missteps were intentional in order to achieve a mistrial and try the case all over again fresh; which is certainly a possibility.

This trial has been an absolute travesty and a disaster for the prosecution from its first day. It’s possible that if Judge Schroeder determines Binger intentionally blew it this week, any retrying of the case will be forbidden. That would be the right thing to do, and even better would be if Judge Schroeder were to simply dismiss the case.

This case should have never even seen a courtroom, and any prosecutor worth his salt needed to only spend an hour watching the multitude of video footage that was shown in court to figure that out. It’s hard to remember a worse example of a government lawyer blowing it the way Binger has.

Very often, when a prosecutor is done working for the government in the prosecution of cases, he or she will move to the private sector and work on the other side as a criminal defense attorney. If Mr. Binger indeed decides to take that path, and if you ever happen to be in Kenosha, Wisconsin and in need of a lawyer, don’t call Mr. Binger. Go to the nearest nail salon and see if they have a Jimmy McGill-type working in the back or opt for a public defender if need be. But don’t hire Thomas Binger, because Mr. Binger is a knucklehead.

Honorable Mention #1: Rep. Adam Schiff appears on The View, and things do not go well.

The California Congressmen, who was given the immortal nickname of “Shifty Schiff” by President Trump, could not have expected to be confronted they way he was on a show with hosts who normally act as though they’ve been deputized by the Democratic Party as coordinators of morning propaganda. But that is exactly what happened.

Guest co-host Morgan Ortagus pressed Schiff on his involvement with the Russia Hoax and his reliance on the now debunked Steele Dossier, saying, “You defended, promoted, and even read into the Congressional record the Steele dossier. We know last week the main source of the dossier was indicted by the FBI for lying about most of the key claims in that dossier.” Schiff, predictably, tried to deflect. He pointed to Paul Manafort who Trump fired, and he naturally went on to bring up the January 6^th Capitol Riot. But Schiff wasn’t done embarrassing himself.

In continuing with his rambling response to Ortagus, Schiff accused Trump of, “trying to coerce Ukraine into helping him in the next election, which he did, into inciting an erection.” An erection? For the record, generally speaking, it’s a bad idea for Congressmen to bring up erections on national television while sitting on a couch surrounded by five women. Way to go, Shifty. And I heard you were walking a little awkwardly when leaving the set… better luck next time.

Honorable Mention #2:  President Obama shows his ignorance regarding the British Isles.

In mainstream media circles, criticizing former President Obama is verboten and punishable by death, or even worse, removal from Twitter. But not here at The Blue State Conservative. While in Scotland for the idiotic climate summit, Obama explained, “Since we’re in the Emerald Isles here let me quote the Bard, William Shakespeare.” Let my help you out, Barry. There’s only one Emerald Isle, and that’s Ireland. You, on the other hand were in Scotland. And that great bard you quoted, Mr. Shakespeare, he was from England. On that flight home, I suggest you look at a map and get one of those travel guides to read for the next time you head over there.

Now, let’s play the role reversal game and set up a similar scenario but with a different setting and a different player. Imagine if Donald Trump were in Central America and mixed up, let’s say, Panama and Guatemala. And what if Trump quoted Mexican revolutionary Poncho Villa in the process? What do you think the reaction would have been? Trump’s a racist. He’s a xenophobe. He thinks Hispanics all have the same culture. So, let’s turn the tables. President Obama, sir, you are a Celtiphobe, and a racist, and not everyone from the British Isles are the same. And one more thing, please just go away.

Featured photo is a screengrab from ABC News.