Rittenhouse, Yang and Vang: Part Two
“I have to live with this the rest of my life… I want you to know I’m very sorry for what I’d done… if I had a chance, I’d change places with Isaiah’s life.” — Dylan Yang
Note: This is the second essay of a three part series. Please consider reading Part 1 to get context on the Kyle Rittenhouse case and what lead to the writing of this series.
On February 27, 2015, Dylan was hanging out on the front porch of his house with his friend/nephew. Dylan shared that at around 3:40 PM, a car “Stopped at the corner, and they got out.” “They” were a group of about four or five boys — the police would later report there were upwards of six or seven boys. One of those boys was Isiah Powell. Once out of their vehicle, the trash-talking erupted. The jawing went back and forth until Isaiah pulled out a gun. At this point, according to Dylan, “They all ran to the car, and we’re like, “You’re going to shoot us, huh?… and then we ran after him… I don’t know why we did that, and then he started shooting.” As the shooting erupted, Dylan ran inside his home and grabbed a 9.5-inch Hmong knife. Once outside, Dylan saw Isaiah, “beatin’ on (Troy)… So, I didn’t think, and I just went over there and stabbed him in the back twice. And then after that I ran back inside and then just put it (the knife) away”. The two stabs punctured Isaiah’s lung, liver, and vena cava — a major vein that takes blood to the heart. Isiah died shortly after being taken to a local hospital.
While a hypothetical question, some in the Hmong community believed and asked, what if Dylan Yang were Kyle Rittenhouse, would a jury have declared him innocent? This, of course, follows the “not guilty” verdict in Kyle’s case when he shot and killed two attackers during the riots in Kenosha. Implicit in the question, “If Dylan Yang were Kyle Rittenhouse, would he have been found innocent?” is the belief that if Dylan were white, he would be free — “if you ain’t white, you ain’t right.” This notion leaves many to believe that the judicial system is unfair and built against people like Dylan. But is this true?
Unlike Kyle’s case, Dylan’s case wasn’t as clear-cut. From a glance, there were some similarities in both cases. Both were charged with 1st Degree Reckless Homicide. Both were charged as adults, per Wisconsin law. While there is no question that Dylan stabbed Isaiah, the question at hand is about intent — both claimed self-defense. Despite these common threads, there were key elements that may have contributed to Dylan’s verdict.
First, unlike Kyle Rittenhouse, who did not know the individuals who confronted and assaulted him, Dylan knew Isaiah. There was also clear evidence of conflict between the two before the fateful confrontation in February. According to Dylan’s interview with Todd Baeten, he and several other youths — including Isaiah — had been “beefing” online. This trash-talking included taunting each other and “representing” their gangs — Dylan claimed to be “Oriental True Blood” (OTB). It didn’t stop there. Dylan went on to say, “You guys aren’t killers in here. Ain’t got no balls to do anything” and talked about a “rumble” (fight) that was arranged to take place “In Marathon,” involving his nephew. Despite the fight not directly involving him, Dylan suggested he would go. And by his own admission, Dylan knew that if Isaiah came over to his home, “we’re going to end up fighting each other.” While not a self-defense expert, I believe this context blew a big hole in Dylan’s self-defense claim and is one of the most significant differences between the two cases.
Another critical difference between the two cases was the evidence available, particularly video evidence. The availability of such evidence was brought into the courtroom and helped Kyle’s case. In Kyle’s case, there were multiple live video footage from various angles to analyze. This is important because the jury could see the video with their own eyes instead of only hearing the evidence as framed by the prosecution. This ultimately put Dylan in the position of relying on sound and competent counsel, another significant factor.
For the duration of his trial, Dylan was represented by Attorney Jay Kronewetter. From the get-go, it appeared that Kronewetter’s defense for Dylan was incompetence. On 04/29/2015, Kronewetter made statements of this nature to the Court and “raises competency of defendant.” As a result, a competency examination was conducted by Wisconsin’s Department of Health on 05/04/2015. According to Wisconsin’s Department of Health, “People charged with crimes must be competent to understand the court process and the possible outcomes of that process. If any representative of the judicial process questions whether a person is competent, the Court may order a competency examination.” On 06/03/2015, Dr. Galli, who conducted the assessment, found Dylan competent. On the same day, Dylan stated in Court that he was competent, and ultimately the Court found Dylan competent to proceed.
Perhaps the most consequential decision under Kronewetter’s counsel surrounds waiving a Reverse Waiver Hearing. In a nutshell, due to Wisconsin law, Dylan’s case started in adult court due to the crime committed. A Reverse Waiver Hearing, if successful, would have moved Dylan’s case to be heard in Juvenile Court. According to the Wausau Daily Herald, “In order to move it to the juvenile level, his defense attorney had to demonstrate that services in the adult justice system wouldn’t be suitable for Yang and that the seriousness of the case wouldn’t change if moved to the juvenile courts.” Based on reports of how his defense portrayed Dylan during the trial - a teenager who had been bullied, was struggling with depression and had experienced trauma - a case could have been made, not to mention Dylan was 15 years old at the time of the crime. Did Dylan truly understand the reasons to forgo the Reverse Waiver and the potential fallout of this decision? I don’t know. But Kronewetter waived the right to a Reverse Waiver Hearing on 07/02/2015. The Court “finds that the Defendant has freely, voluntarily and intelligently waived the right to a Reverse Waiver Hearing.” This moved Dylan’s trial forward, which began on 03/14/2016.
When Dylan’s family eventually replaced Kronewetter with Harry Hertel, the trial had concluded and a verdict reached; guilty. At Dylan’s sentencing day, Kronewetter said, “He hoped that his performance would be closely scrutinized and found ineffective (Emphasis mine) because that could “overturn the conviction and get e new trial for Dylan.” A motion for a new trial was requested, arguing that Dylan had been poorly represented however, Dylan withdrew his request to prevent further pain for his and the Powell family.
On Dylan’s sentencing day, Judge LaMont Jacobson said that Dylan “could have defused the situation but chose not to…Your reaction was to go into your house, grab a knife and stab Isaiah Powell twice in the back… as a result of your actions, and your actions alone, a young life was needlessly taken.” And Judge Jacobson isn’t wrong in stating this; marking another significant difference between Dylan’s case and Kyle’s. Chief among these “opportunities” to diffuse the conflict was for Dylan to stop being a keyboard warrior, especially since he knew that conflict with Isaiah was inevitable. Additionally when Isaiah and his posse showed up at his house, Dylan had the opportunity to grab his nephew and go inside. From there, they could have called the police. Instead, he decided to engage and escalate an already explosive situation. For his crime, Dylan faced a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison (compared to five years if his case went to Juvenile Court). Lesli Pluster, the prosecutor, believed Dylan should be sentenced to 25 years in prison and 20 years of extended probation. All that said, on October 19, 2016, Dylan was sentenced to 13 years in state prison and will have an additional 17 years of extended supervision. Dylan will be 29 years old when he is released.
What occurred between Dylan and Isaiah was a tragedy. I don’t think there’s another way to put it. However in the context of comparing Dylan’s case and Kyle Rittenhouse’s case, there are a couple things I know for certain. First, Dylan’s case was not as clear cut as Kyle’s, or Chai Vang’s for that fact, meaning the jury could have gone either way. To the hypothetical question, would a jury have found Dylan innocent if he were Kyle Rittenhouse (aka if Dylan were white)? I can’t say for certain but if the jury followed the facts as presented, I don’t think so. The other certainty both situations had their own unique sequence of events and evidence, which was presented and weighed by the jury. Now, if Dylan were in Kyle’s situation, do I believe that Dylan would have been found innocent? That answer is yes.
