By
Ryan Boysen
Law360 (February 5, 2021, 7:31 PM EST) -- Teenage shooting suspect Kyle Rittenhouse has fired his former lead attorney, John Pierce of
Pierce Bainbridge, in what appears to be a dispute over the lawyer's involvement in the fundraising apparatus that's raised millions on Rittenhouse's behalf.
The move comes as prosecutors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, are seeking to revoke Rittenhouse's bail over a series of events that apparently began when Pierce provided incorrect information to the court about the defendant's whereabouts.
In a Thursday post on
Twitter, the fundraising operation, Free Kyle USA, announced that "John Pierce was terminated by Kyle" earlier in the week.
"Following the recommendation of attorney's and accountants everywhere, we've been offline for a few weeks to setup an independent irrevocable trust strictly for the benefit of Kyle," the post said. "John Pierce opposed that idea. It is clear that by doing so, we made the right decision."
"When we begin raising funds again, John Pierce has no involvement and is not connected in any way to the funds being raised," the account said in a follow-up post. "John does not speak for Kyle anymore."
In a statement, Pierce said he wished Rittenhouse the best but declined to comment further.
"Kyle is a terrific young man and is totally innocent. 100% perfect self-defense," Pierce said. "It was the most gratifying moment of my professional life to reunite him with his mother."
The dust-up is just the latest in a long line of financial entanglements that have repeatedly gotten Pierce into trouble.
Pierce began representing Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, just days after the Illinois native was accused of killing two men and wounding another in an August shooting incident at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha.
Pierce, who primarily litigates business disputes, hired two experienced criminal attorneys to handle the murder case against Rittenhouse. Along with fellow conservative firebrand attorney L. Lin Wood, Pierce orchestrated a fundraising effort that allowed Rittenhouse to post a $2 million bond in November. Those efforts also helped cement Rittenhouse's status as a newly minted right-wing Second Amendment icon.
Wood and his #FightBack Foundation, which had led the fundraising efforts, then parted ways with Rittenhouse and Pierce to focus on filing suits that sought to overturn the results of the November presidential election. Free Kyle USA was created shortly thereafter.
In December, Pierce
withdrew from Rittenhouse's criminal case, however, after prosecutors noted that the attorney was tens of millions of dollars in debt following the
collapse of his previous firm last spring, yet was also in charge of Rittenhouse's fundraising efforts.
"Given his own substantial personal debts, his involvement with an unregulated and opaque 'slush fund' provides ample opportunity for self-dealing and fraud," the prosecutors said.
At the time, Pierce called those allegations "ludicrous" and said Rittenhouse's mother would ultimately have full control over the fundraising proceeds. Pierce had filed a defamation suit against
Yahoo on Rittenhouse's behalf and said he planned to file many more going forward.
Rittenhouse has reportedly hired Robert Barnes, another well-known conservative attorney who is also currently defending conspiracy theorist and conservative pundit Alex Jones in several defamation cases.
The shake-up comes as prosecutors in Kenosha are seeking to revoke Rittenhouse's bail and send him back to jail, claiming Rittenhouse had provided faulty information about his whereabouts.
In court documents, Pierce said an officer with the Kenosha Police Department told him he "absolutely should not" write down Rittenhouse's actual address on a court form, because it could endanger the defendant's safety. The Kenosha police have put out a statement disputing Pierce's version of events.
That form apparently listed Rittenhouse's home address in Antioch, Illinois, but Rittenhouse actually resides at an undisclosed "safe house," according to court documents and Twitter posts by Free Kyle USA. That organization claims the Kenosha prosecutors were already aware of the fact that Rittenhouse was residing at an undisclosed location for his safety.
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