Oklahoma state senator files ‘Kyle’s Law’ to compensate victims of ‘malicious prosecution’

Sen. Nathan Dahm filed Senate Bill 1120, called Kyle's Law, days after the acquittal of 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Friday.

Under this legislation, if a person is charged with murder but is found not guilty due to justifiable homicide, "the state would have to reimburse the defendant for all reasonable costs, including loss of wages, legal fees incurred, and other expenses involved in their defense," a press release from Dahm's office states.

"When a homicide is determined to be justified and the accused establishes that they had sustained injury due to malicious prosecution, then that person will be awarded 'fair and just compensation,'" the press release continues.

The bill also states that "in order to support a claim of malicious prosecution, the claimant must establish that the prosecution was instituted or instigated by the prosecutor and was without probable cause; that the prosecution had legally and finally been terminated in favor of the claimant; and that as a result of the criminal prosecution, the claimant sustained injury."

Malice may be established if the motive for the prosecution was something other than "a desire to bring an offender to justice, or that it was one with ill will or hatred, or willfully done in a wanton or oppressive manner and in conscious disregard of the claimant's rights." A prosecutor may be held personally liable is malicious prosecution is established.

"Kyle Rittenhouse should never have been charged. The video evidence from early on showed it was lawful self-defense," Dahm said.

"It is our duty to protect the rights of the people we represent, and the right to self-defense is paramount. This bill will ensure that what happened to Kyle Rittenhouse cannot happen to the people of Oklahoma," he continued.

Rittenhouse was found not guilty of all charges Friday. He faced a murder trial for the self-defense shootings of three men on Aug. 25, 2020, during last summer's Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha. Two of the men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, were fatally shot. Gaige Grosskreutz was wounded.