mkorzo said:
I think for a lot of people (including at least one person on this jury) it's impossible for them to separate the idea that it was a bad idea for Kyle to make the choice to insert himself into what he knew would be a riot armed with the idea he is able to legally defend himself. And probably at least one person on the jury is trying to conflate "it was a bad idea" with "well, that in itself was provocation."
The judge should be hammering home to the jury that they need to separate the issues. I would like to see the defense object every time the prosecution came up with that emotional argument.
Ritika law brought up a good point that if there's a mistrial and the da decides to prosecute again, he knows that the only thing he had success with is that emotional argument that Kyle shouldn't have been there in the first place. And that's what he's going to hammer on for a week straight when they try him again.