Kyle Rittenhouse's lawyer Mark Richards is inundated with death threats  

Kyle Rittenhouse's lawyer Mark Richards is inundated with death threats  
Kyle Rittenhouse's lawyer Mark Richards is inundated with death threats  

The attorney who successfully defended Kyle Rittenhouse against criminal charges has been so inundated with death threats that he was forced to stop using his cell phone.

Defense lawyer Mark Richards has switched to using his wife's cell phone after receiving more threatening calls than he can count following Friday's verdict, he told Insider

'By the time I left the courthouse yesterday and started answering my phone, the first three calls were death threats, and I just quit answering my phone,' Richards told the outlet.

'I'm going through my emails, there are threatening emails too,' he added.

'I would love for things to change, for people to talk to one another without fighting, but, unfortunately, I don't see it changing it any time soon,' the attorney said. 

Defense lawyer Mark Richards (left) has switched to using his wife's cell phone after receiving more threatening calls than he can count over his defense of Kyle Rittenhouse

Defense lawyer Mark Richards (left) has switched to using his wife's cell phone after receiving more threatening calls than he can count over his defense of Kyle Rittenhouse

Richards has said that his focus was solely on defending his client, not advancing political agendas, and lamented the lack of civility in the country

Richards has said that his focus was solely on defending his client, not advancing political agendas, and lamented the lack of civility in the country

Rittenhouse was acquitted on all charges after a jury found he acted in self-defense in shooting and killing two men and wounding a third during confrontations amid anti-police protests last summer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The case inflamed political passions across the country, with conservatives embracing Rittenhouse as a symbol of gun rights, and liberals trashing the not-guilty verdict as unfair or racist.

But Richards has said that his focus was solely on defending his client, and not advancing political agendas.

'I was hired by the two first lawyers. I'm not going to use their names,' Richards told reporters on Friday. 'They wanted to use Kyle for a cause and something that I think was inappropriate - and I don't represent causes. I represent clients.' 

Richards said that to him, the only thing that mattered was 'whether he was found not guilty or not.' 

The verdict marked a career-defining trial for Richards and his co-counsel, Corey Chirafisi. 

Richards, a Racine-based criminal defense attorney, led the defense in fighting charges of first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree attempted intentional homicide and first-degree reckless endangerment.   

Demonstrators march to protest the not-guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial of Kenosha shootings, in Boston on Friday night

Demonstrators march to protest the not-guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial of Kenosha shootings, in Boston on Friday night

Hundreds also marched through Brooklyn to protest the Rittenhouse verdict, calling his acquittal a double standard and a failure of the justice system

Hundreds also marched through Brooklyn to protest the Rittenhouse verdict, calling his acquittal a double standard

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