On Thursday, speaking at a hearing for his client, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who is accused of murdering 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, attorney Allan Richards made a claim that would turn the stomach of those who heard it, calling Rivera “an All-American boy.”
Richards spoke at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Iowa, where he argued that expanded news media coverage of the case would be inappropriate, saying, “The coverage that’s out there is leaning all one way and in fact, government has weighed in at the highest levels. In our system of justice, he’s entitled to that presumption of innocence until some evidence is presented. Portraying Cristhian as something that he isn’t, in some ways I view that as a political payback for what’s swirling around.”
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