Kyle Rittenhouse’s former attorney John Pierce is reportedly in the hospital on a ventilator due to complications involving COVID-19.
Reports from Law & Crime cite that a man on assault charges tried to hire the conservative lawyer when his current health condition was discovered.
“John Pierce’s colleague, Ryan Marshall, piped up to say, yes, that was happening but unfortunately the notice of appearance he thought had been filed last night had not appeared on the docket yet,” journalist Marcy Wheeler, who initially broke the news, wrote on their blog.
When U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta inquired on where Pierce was after not showing up to a case, Marshall replied, “Mr. Pierce is in the hospital, we believe, with COVID-19, on a ventilator, non-responsive.” Wheeler clarified this back and forth on her Twitter.
Rittenhouse and his family parted ways with Pierce in February after the lawyer refused to provide audits for the money he raised through their #FightBack Foundation.
“They used Kyle to gain money, gain Twitter followers,” Wendy Rittenhouse told Law & Crime’s Adam Klasfeld.“I felt now they didn’t care about Kyle.”
Kenosha County prosecutor Thomas Binger also wrote in a filing that Pierce’s money problems might create a place of issue for the family.
“Given his own substantial personal debts, his involvement with an unregulated and opaque ‘slush fund’ provides ample opportunity for self-dealing and fraud. Money that should be held in trust for the defendant may instead be used to repay Attorney Pierce’s numerous creditors.”
