‘Change His Name And Start His Life Over’: Defense Attorney Offers Post-Trial Advice To Kyle Rittenhouse

Defense Attorney Mark Richards said Monday that if he were to offer advice to his client, Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse, it would be to “change his name and start his life over.”

Richards spoke with Fox News host Martha MacCallum about the trial, Rittenhouse’s acquittal on all the charges against him, and the people who he believed were coming out of the woodwork to use the trial to advance personal or political causes.

MacCallum asked Richards to address the fact that several Republicans in Congress had suggested the possibility that Rittenhouse would make a good intern — something that Richards had already publicly condemned.

“A lot of people want to use Kyle for their own means. I think the way that Rittenhouse name right now has trended on Twitter and that’s what we live in is a Twitter society, people want to use his name, get it out there so they can get some publicity. I think it’s cheap. That’s what I think,” Richards said.

MacCallum then asked what advice he would give Rittenhouse now that the trial was over and he could go back to his life.

“I heard you say, ‘Look, it’s up to Kyle,’ and you and the other attorney who — he obviously had good relationships with both of you and you talked about the struggles of dealing with this case — but what is your advice to him about how he should live his life? He’s got a lot of big decisions to make about whether or not he goes to college and keeps his head down and gets on with his life or becomes a symbol for certain things that people would like him to be a symbol for.”

“Yeah, my advice would be to change his name and start his life over,” Richards replied. “He’s very recognizable right now. A lot of people that I don’t think have his best interests at heart. Probably want to make him a symbol of something I don’t think he wants to be necessarily associated with. Once you give up your name and likeness and you join those causes, I think a lot of people will use you for their own purposes and you won’t be able to control it. We’ve had that talk with Kyle. It’s a fine line where he decides to go. Ultimately I hope he makes the right choices. I would think his life would be easier being anonymous

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