To the editor:

I am writing in response to a letter published in the Portsmouth Times issued on the 24th of this past month, “Rittenhouse verdict underscores racial bias in legal system,” because I have noticed several problems with it. 

First, disagreeing with a verdict by a jury of 12, who saw the presentation of evidence, the examination witnesses by legal professionals and supervised by a legal professional from both sides of the controversy, and deliberated close to four days afterwards, is a bold move to make. In business, sacrifice is the measure of credibility, and the author of the letter probably has not sacrificed enough as far as the case goes to hold as much as a candle to the sacrifice of time and effort by the jury. 

Second, in connection with sacrifice being the measure of credibility: No critic of the verdict has ever claimed that if the defendant had a clear chance to get out of harm’s way without the use of lethal force. Plenty of evidence has been presented evincing the defendant being pursued by several until he fell and was beaten by a skateboard, a bag filled with a chain, and approached with a gun. 

It is also true that the defendant’s mother, who most likely was in a better position to know than the author of said letter, claimed in an interview that her son probably would be dead had he not taken his weapon to town.

The report of the officer who shot Jacob Blake not facing charges lacks some important facts reported by others, namely, he wielded a knife and attempted to kidnap.

Peter Chafee Card, Jr.

Middletown