Criminal law

Now That Rittenhouse is Acquitted, Can Officer Kelly Have His Job Back?
Norfolk Police Department

The acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse produced a number of immediate changes beyond the custodial status of the 18-year-old himself. GoFundMe lifted its ban on people contributing to his defense . . . after his defense was over and the verdict was in. Some media outlets finally reported on evidence that supported his self-defense claims and one critic called for “revisiting” the clearly biased reporting in the case. However, there is one person whose status has not changed: Norfolk Police Officer William Kelly who was fired for simply donating to the Rittenhouse defense fund and writing a supportive note as a private citizen. He made the comment and donation anonymously. The only thing more shocking than Kelly’s loss of his job is that Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer and Police Chief Larry Boone have retained theirs.

I criticized the firing of Kelly last April as a blatant attack on free speech. The termination occurred after Kelly made a $25 donation to the defense of Kyle Rittenhouse. He made the donation anonymously and added the comment “God Bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong. Every rank-and-file police officer supports you.”

Early in the Rittenhouse case, activists sought to cut off Rittenhouse’s ability to raise money for his defense by harassing donors and (successfully) pressuring companies like GoFundMe to block contributions. A criminal defense in any case (let alone a high-profile case with ramped up prosecution teams) is hugely expensive. That financial threat can prompt some to plead guilty. That is why people want to help fund such defenses to guarantee true access to a fair trial. Activists and GoFundMe did everything they could to block such efforts and increase the pressure on this teenager to just plead guilty.

Back to Kelly. This is an officer who had served for almost 20 years when he decided to contribute to the defense. As a police officer, Kelly likely saw the defense grounds more clearly than most people. The jury ultimately agreed with his view that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. Nevertheless, activists learned his identity and demanded his termination. Filer rushed to satisfy the mob. He fired Kelly with the support of Boone and declared “his egregious comments erode the trust between the Norfolk Police Department and those they are sworn to serve.”

The “egregious comments” were to say anonymously that there are officers who support Rittenhouse and believe in his defense. Kelly has pointed out that Boone was allowed in uniform to march with Black Lives Matter protesters. Yet, he was fired for anonymously making the supportive donation and statement to a legal defense fund.

Various public officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have contributed to the The Minnesota Freedom Fund, which “pays criminal bail and immigration bonds for those who cannot otherwise afford to as we seek to end discriminatory, coercive, and oppressive jailing.”  They have the right to support such legal defense funds, which serve to assure that litigants have the means to defend themselves. So does Kelly.

When Kelly was fired, many on the left celebrated despite the fact that he was being denied his right to free speech and free association. It is a pattern that I have written about in the past as public employees are fired for statements on social media or associations in their private lives.  This includes a New Jersey police officer fired for calling BLM protesters “terrorists” on her personal Facebook account. Most recently, a court reinstated Loudon teacher Byron “Tanner” Cross, who was fired for speaking publicly against gender identification policies.

As it stands, Kelly was fired for supporting (again anonymously) a teenager who was ultimately acquitted of all charges by a jury. He was fired for contributing to a legal fund that would guarantee that the accused would be allowed to put on a full defense. That is in the interest of justice.

Yet, Filer and Boone remain employed despite using their official positions to retaliate for the use of free speech. Kelly and his family continue to appeal his firing as they struggle to survive on the teacher’s salary of his wife.  The dictator Idi Amin once proclaimed “There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.” That seems the standard applied in Norfolk where even anonymous support for a legal defense is grounds for termination.

188 thoughts on “Now That Rittenhouse is Acquitted, Can Officer Kelly Have His Job Back?”

  3. I bet Frederick the Great didn’t have a communist/Antifa/leftist/Democrat problem.
    He would have sent in his troops and have them arrested for being to society
    what cancer cells are to an organism, for the health of his nation.

  4. Their knee-jerk reaction is to see you sufficiently punished if you express something they don’t like.
    Try it and see.

  5. Trolls were suffering with forced to be on the wrong side an issue. But now they are forced to troll against a trial already put to bed. The facts established and the law settled. Thats way past stupid. So blinded by fear they mock themselves relentlessly.

  6. It used to be the religious right that wanted to control pornography and heavy metal records, but now
    it is the loony left that wants to control everything.

  8. I saw another picture of Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin sharing a chocolate milkshake at McDonald’s.
    Does that mean that Churchill was a communist?

      1. Onanistic = (comparative more onanistic, superlative most onanistic)

        Of or pertaining to masturbation (onanism).
        In a manner which suggests masturbation; hence, fruitless, self-congratulatory, self-absorbed, pointless.

        OANistic = fruitless, self-congratulatory, self-absorbed, pointless.

  9. Who promotes the oppression of political correctness, getting people punished for what they express, constantly, all the time?
    Who makes people afraid of expressing their minds?
    Democrats.
    If that’s not tyranny, I don’t know what is.

  10. According to a recent Rasmussen pole, 36% of those polled thought the news media’s coverage of the Rittenhouse trial was done in a fair manner.

    1. That poll result is absurd. It’s impossible for 36% of those polled to “think” that the media’s coverage was fair. Such people are programmed and are incapable of thinking or reasoning. Products of today’s Leftist Indoctrination Entities (“LIEs”), for example, which have replaced public schools, colleges, and universities, are specifically taught not to think. They are taught a political agenda and to look at everything through the Marxist-Leftist lens. Additionally, they are also taught to mentally shut out any facts, evidence, science, or logic they may be presented with that contradicts the programmed leftist agenda. The LIEs do that to make the mindless dupes resistant to deprogramming.

      Thinking people, of course, know that the media is not only biased, but is run and presented almost exclusively by presstitutes.

      Here’s a little video showing Harvard’s deeper “thinkers,” who believe everything the presstitutes tell them.

      2. Marxist? Really? Which one? Groucho? Harpo?

        Zeppo is under-rated.

        Are you intelligent enough to understand how completely full of beans you are?

        People who spout nonsense like “leftist-Marxist” are gonna be babbling about ChemTrails and Election Fraud and PizzaGate and Deep State next.

        Conspiracy theory, pseudo-political nonsense.

        No American should be that gullible and dumb.

        There’s a new AP you should try. It’s called AWSHADAP!!!!

        The whole leftist/right-wing thing is just the opiate of the asses anyway.

        And you’re falling for it.

          1. Funny thing is, my great great grandfather was best friends with Karl Marx. They went to school together at Kaiser Wilhelm Gymnasium inTrier in 1835.

            But people like you who babble about leftist/Marxist wouldn’t know Karl Marx if he jumped into bed with you.

            There is no Marxism.

            There is no Communisn.

            The world is rabidly capitalist.

            Russia is a dysfunctional kleptocracy and China is CINO = Communist In Name Only – a grotesquely overpopulated country that practices state-controlled capitalism in a desperate attempt to feed 1.4 billion people every day.

            You’re just a clown parroting what you’re fed on Fox.

                1. Projection, which affects all Marxist-Leftists, will not help you to solve this problem or any other. When Marxists-Leftists accuse others of something, they are talking about themselves. For example, racism and white supremacy, are diseases affecting Marxists-Leftists, not genuine conservatives and libertarians. That’s why racist and white supremacist Richard Spencer, like you, endorsed Joe Biden for president. As for your projection of your severe deficiencies in intelligence and common sense onto others, even Bill Maher has publicly stated that the Democrat Party, of which you are merely a pawn, has “become the party of no common sense.” Naturally, you are blinded to your projections, and don’t even understand what the concept is or how it works. But I will briefly ‘splain it to you. Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another. The concept emerged from Sigmund Freud’s work on defense mechanisms and was further refined by his daughter, Anna Freud, and other prominent figures in psychology.

                  1. Yadda yadda yadda. You don’t even know what Marxism is.

                    It doesn’t exist.

                    And I don’t consider myself left wing or right wing.

                    I consider myself “Gull Wing” which means to smart and/or wealthy to grovel in all the stupid right/left nonsense.

                    To paraphrase Marx: “It’s the opiate of the proles.”

                    There’s a whole level of American society who have the brains to hover above all the low-class BLM, Proud Boys, QAnon, mullet-headed nonsense.

                    They throw peanuts at the idiots fighting and arguing over things they don’t understand.

                    Like “Marxist;Leftist.”

                    You’re a moron.

                    I sentence you to drown in your own ignorance.

  11. One would think that all of those on the left would not be in favor of a person loosing their job because they stated their opinion. I guess the latest in vogue thing is to be racist against those of alabaster pigmentation with no repercussions to be feared. No sense of fairness should be allowed to get in their way. Free speech is so blasé.

    1. You truly identified four of the worst but most amusing commenters on this blog. They appear not intelligent enough to engage in thoughtful argument, so they reduce their comments to abusive polemics, like wrongfully labeling persons who pffer substantive comments as “Trumpists” or “Trumpers.”. I smile and move on…
      .

      1. Lin says:

        “ like wrongfully labeling persons who pffer substantive comments as “Trumpists” or “Trumpers.”. I smile and move on…”

        Don’t flatter yourself. I call you and the likes of you “lying Trumpists” because you believe that the election was rigged and stolen. All lies.

      2. What do they pffer about people who can’t spell?

        It’s proper spelling and grammar that distinguish us from the Mongol races.

        Where I live the people are rich, accomplished and liberal so I have to go online to divine the thoughts of the proles.

        And it’s scary, how gullible and dumb a big chunk of America is.

        Long as California stays blue, the rest of the country can suck eggs and swirl in the vortex.

        1. Intelligent persons are capable of distinguishing between proper spelling and grammar, and hasty typographic errors on a portable keyboard. The good professor often has such errors in his blog. Thank you for confirming my opinion.

            1. Correct me if I’m wrong but even Mongol Races don’t like Pedophiles & Pedo supporters like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NYT, WAPO, yourself, if you still fail to renounce them, LAT, NBC, etc., Multiple Govt agency upper leadership….

            3. Constantly pointing out deficiencies in others is an abusive power play that masquerades as genuine concern.

              1. Sorry but I was born a typochondriac which I define as:

                Typochondriac = n. A person suffering from typochondriasis, which is an excessive preoccupation or worry about grammatical or spelling errors in a document. Typochondriacs fret and fuss about about capitalization, em dashes and other spelling or grammatical rules, no matter how minor they may be. Typochondriacs also relentlessly proofread everything they read: cereal boxes, hangtags, the news scrolls on CNN and even their friends’ emails – which is why typochondriacs are often friendless. [Typo: A slang term for “typographical error” which is a mistake made in, originally, the manual type-setting (typography) of printed material, or more recently, the typing process. + Hypochondriac: A person who suffers from excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness.  Hypochondriacs become unduly alarmed about any physical symptoms they detect, no matter how minor the symptom may be. They are convinced that they have or are about to have a serious illness.]

              1. No “Natacha object” is correct because NATACHA is an organization

                National Association To Annihilate Conservative Hypocrisy Aloha

                So “Natacha object” refers to the group, plural.

                Nice try.

            5. Ben Marcus: In your sentence, “It is proper spelling and English that distinguish..,”
              I believe your grammar is incorrect. “It” is the subject of your sentence; -therefore, proper English would read “It is…that distinguishes…” If you remove the “It is..,” then it would be correct to say, “proper spelling and English distinguish.” Moreover, in a comment to someone else, you defended poor English by declaring that “Natacha” was an organization, which you then added is “plural.” If true, then “Natacha,” acting in that capacity (organization) would properly begin the comment with “We” instead of “I.” Finally, the organization would correctly respond that “Natacha objects,” not “Natacha object.” You are truly amusing.

  13. I don’t recall which scholar said it, but acquitted does not mean that a person is not guilty of wrongful conduct. An acquittal can happen any number of ways, including a biased judge, biased jury, bad court rulings, evidence wrongfully withheld, lots of reasons. An acquittal does not equal vindication. All an acquittal does is prevent the state from charging for the same offenses again. That’s it. If this were a clear case of self-defense, then it wouldn’t have taken 4 days for a verdict. One, or possibly several, people were holding out for justice here. The effect of this outcome is more far-reaching than just a stuipd, zit-faced, fat, friendless kid who got away with shooting and killing 2 and wounding another while pretending to be a hero or EMT. How many copycats will there be? What about the chilling effect of public protests being curtailed by a vigilante with a gun fascination? I don’t see how any thinking or feeling person can fail to be offended by Rittenhouse taking victory laps and appearing on the Hate Network, basking in the glow of praise over killing 2 people. What does he stand for, anyway? Patriotism? The Rule of Law?

    1. Natacha, in your view of things acquitted does not mean you didn’t do the deed. I must agree. Conversely being acquitted does not mean you did do the did. But one fact remains. Natacha believed that Rittenhouse was guilty before a trial occurred. She stood with lynching rope at the ready but now she’s disappointed that she won’t get to have her little lynching party. She was the one who yelled and continues to screech the loudest “string him up”. She imagines herself an angel on a mission for redemption.

      1. There wasn’t a reason on earth for a wannabe white supremacist kid with an AR15 to be walking into a riot.

        Of that, he is guilty as hell.

        In California they would have respoinded with SWAT and helicopters and strung him up in court.

        That is what Natacha object to.

        He’s guilty of adolescent stupidity and hopefully there will be justice in the civil suits.

        1. Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask, how’s your brother Neiman?

          I haven’t seen him around in a while.

          1. NATACHA is a group name which stands for:

            National Association To Annihilate Conservative Hypocrisy Always

            So “Natacha object” is correct because it refers to a group.

        3. Ben, there is zero evidence that Kyle Rittenhouse is racist or a white supremacist. Quite literally zero. Instead, Rittenhouse rendered first aid, and handed out water, to protestors, and even rioters, of all colors.

          Continually false accusing Rittenhouse of racism is immoral, and a character flaw. Making up stories about someone to further a political agenda is unethical. You should stop doing that.

          The year of Leftist mobs committing arson, destroying businesses, and assaulting people combined with the Democrat policy of making cops stand down and do nothing would be the reasons why communities had to mount their own defense.

    2. Natacha says she doesn’t recall what scholar made a statement because she never sights a source to confirm the things she makes up in her head. Perhaps some scholar did make a statement supporting her premise but she doesn’t make the effort to find out what scholar it was that said something to support her position. We need to see the attribution in context to determine the authors meaning. Due to this lack of effort why should we believe anything she says when it is probably only Natacha that has declared it. Source please!!!

    3. NUTCHACHA, My Dear,

      For your edification, the definitions of vigilante and self-defense, Kyle Rittenhouse having engaged in the latter, and having no relationship to the former:

      MERRIAM WEBSTER
      _________________

      vigilante noun
      vig·​i·​lan·​te | \ ˌvi-jə-ˈlan-tē
      \
      Definition of vigilante

      : a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate) broadly

      : a self-appointed doer of justice
      __________________________

      self-defense noun

      self-de·​fense | \ ˌself-di-ˈfen(t)s
      \
      Definition of self-defense

      1 : a plea of justification for the use of force or for homicide

      2 : the act of defending oneself, one’s property, or a close relative

      1. Sheesh you stepped on your own brain.

        This is exactly what KR was doing, or thought he was doing.

        Responding to a riot with an AR15 because of a lack of police presence: “: a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate) broadly”

        1. In fact, Kyle Rittenhouse was in full self-defense mode, with no component of vigilantism, after suffering assault and battery by four attackers.

        2. Ben Marcus:

          Did Kyle Rittenhouse act to suppress the mob? Did he brandish his firearm and say clear the streets or you’re all going to get it? Nope. He only used his firearm in self defense, not for crowd dispersal, not to tell people they cannot protest, and not to argue with anyone. It was literally there for self defense, like women keep pepper spray in their purse for defensive use.

          1. Baloney.

            Do you have a 17-year-old son?

            Would you hand him an AR15 and tell him to go walk into the middle of a riot with it?

            Well you probably would.

            But you shouldn’t.

    4. Whoa, Natacha……..look at the time! Shouldn’t you and your friends be looting a Nordstrom’s about now??

  14. THe headline suggests a pleasant request but it should be a loud demand. GoFundMe, most of the media, the technocrats, the President and VP have defamed Kyle R and by association this officer. The are acting outside of the constitution and in a punitive fashion. Sue them for everything, is my response.

    1. Acting outside of the Constitution?

      They’re just following Trump’s example, because he ate the Seven Deadly Sins, shit the 10 Commandments and wiped himself with the Constitution.

      1. Ben Marcus, thank you for such polite conversation. We get to decide if you and some others are capable of presented a well thought out argument. Thank for revealing such a distinct example of your nature. Pardon us if we don’t put it on a plague for future generations to see.

        1. Plague?

          Covid is a plague.

          Stupidity seems to be a plague.

          It’s proper spelling and grammar that distinguish us from the Mongol Races.

          I was just being vulgar and basic to appeal to the Trumpers.

      2. What an ugly, immature comment. Please go home and think about what you failed to contribute to this blog,-which is meant to promote true, intelligent debate

        1. Joe Biden graduated from law school 76 out of 85 in his class (bottom 10%). Dont expect any better from the troll farms that send these bottom dwellers.

          1. Elon Musk said it best.

            Education don’t mean nothing.

            Talent and drive are what matter.

            Bush43 was an underachiever at school, too.

            Musk and Gates and others didn’t even graduate.

            School don’t mean much.

            Biden is president of the United States and his efforts will resonate long after Trump – who is already mostly forgotten.

  15. “Now That Rittenhouse is Acquitted,…”

    – Professor Turley
    ______________

    Now that Rittenhouse is acquitted, it is time to charge the Police Chief, District Attorney and Kenosha County “authorities” with false arrest and malicious prosecution.

    NEVER were Rittenhouse’s existential jeopardy and right to self-defense in doubt as proven from the outset by the manifest tenor of the facts.

    Rittenhouse exercised his constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

    Rittenhouse was stalked, chased, threatened with a loaded gun, assaulted, battered to the ground and left with no possibility of escape.

    Rittenhouse had completely exhausted his option for flight and was compelled to fight.

    At most, Rittenhouse might have been temporarily detained and questioned.

    Mike Nifong, District Attorney, Durham County, North Carolina, committed, was prosecuted, found guilty and jailed for malicious prosecution of innocent Duke University students.

    Mike Nifong knew from the evidence that the students were innocent but he pursued charges in an attempt to appease a specific block of voters and capture potential gains in his political career.

    Kenosha County District Attorney Mike Graveley, the Antioch Police Chief and the Kenosha County authorities who issued the arrest warrant must be prosecuted for malicious prosecution of a clearly innocent individual.

  16. Is a black guy a bigot just because he aims a gun at a white guy and robs him? BLM. Bad Lungs Matter. Quite smoking.

  17. This White Supremest blather in the media is all BS. Or Bull itShay.
    You gotta be a pig to read Piglatin

    1. He’s making the upside down OK sign, isn’t that a white supremacist sign?

      New York Times done said so: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/us/ok-sign-white-power.html

      However he’s just a dumb, northern-mid-west prole child so he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

      Which is why he walked into the middle of a riot with an AR15 over his shoulder and killed two guys and shot the bicep off a third.

      In California he’d be in prison for sure.

        1. I have seen both Biden and AOC flash White Supremacy hand signals at press conferences!

          As a brown person, I am deeply, deeply, deeply, offended . . . nah! Not really! I am not a snowflake. My parents (immigrants) taught me the value of a good work ethic, having a backbone, a thick skin, and that no one said that life is fair.
          I have done pretty good for myself, making 6 figures.
          Not to shabby for a brown, uneducated (re: non-collge) person.

          1. If you had gone to collge you might have learned how to properly spell college.

            It’s proper spelling and grammar that distinguish us from the Mongol races.

            2. What you perceive as misspelling was a fat finger incident.

              When I see someone misspell a word on blogs by one letter, I given them the benefit of doubt they too fat fingered, or are using a mobile device to post.
              Just a little common sense.

              While in Afghanistan, I worked with the Mongolian army. They are far from ignorant as you suggest.

              1. “they too are fat-fingered”

                Missing a word and a hyphen.

                “I give them the benefit” not “given them”

                And I say “Mongolian races” when the real expression is “Mongrel races” but that’s too Hitlerian even for his blog.

                If you were in Afghanistan than you know it’s a hopeless, Seventh-century Islamist fundamentalist bloodbath and Uncle Sam’s involvement there was a waste of time, money and lives.

                Biden did the right thing.

        2. No that’s just Biden reassuring the country: “OK, Covid was bad but the silver lining is Covid removed Trump from office and we no longer have to listen to his blathering BS and watch him bring the country to its knees with his incompetence and corruption.”

          “Now if only his idiot, anti-vax, anti-mask idiot prole followers would fade away, I will flash double OK signs.

    2. Why is there never yellow supremacy, brown supremacy, red supremacy, black supremacy, etc.?

      Oh, yeah, because white supremacy is an immutable physical axiom.

      “It’s Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature!”

      2. Oh there’s Yellow Supremacy. Are you kidding?

        What do you think World War II was all about?

        We bombed Hiroshima and they still didn’t give up?

        Dumb.

        Black Supremacy exists too.

        Listen to rap.

  18. FREE DEREK CHAUVIN

    “The only thing more shocking than Kelly’s loss of his job is that Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer and Police Chief Larry Boone have retained theirs.”

    – Professor Turley
    ______________

    The only thing more shocking than Derek Chauvin’s loss of his job is that the Minneapolis City Manager and Police Chief have retained theirs.

    Derek Chauvin was trained in and followed procedures when he applied a prescribed and authorized neck restraint which had been used against suspects 237 times by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).

    In 237 incidents of neck restraint application by the MPD, 44 resulted in the suspect losing consciousness.

    No person died from MPD applied neck restraints.

    No person died from MPD applied neck restraints.

    The suspect in the Chauvin case died of severe physical deterioration and debilitation from years of drug abuse and his voluntary, deleterious life style – of methamphetamine and fentanyl use – of heart disease.

    The suspect’s trachea was not interdicted or restrained.

    Derek Chauvin was not a doctor assigned to diagnose an extremely anxious and agitated patient overcome by multiple pathologies.

    Derek Chauvin was a police officer fulfilling his duty to protect and serve the people of Minneapolis.

    Inevitably, it must be concluded that the chain of events of that day were initiated and caused by the suspect, and that the suspect alone was responsible.

    If there were no danger, threats to public safety and criminals, there would be no need for police.
    ____________________________________________________________________________

    “Since the beginning of 2015, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department have rendered people unconscious with neck restraints 44 times, according to an NBC News analysis of police records.

    “Minneapolis police used neck restraints at least 237 times during that span, and in 16 percent of the incidents the suspects and other individuals lost consciousness, the department’s use-of-force records show.”

    – NBC News

  19. Biden’s evil comments about Rittenhouse cause me to vote against Biden in the next dem president primary.

  20. Grape wine in a mason jar.
    Home made and brought to school
    By a Biden guy after class.

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