After a little more than two hours, three men and three women acquitted Kinny Redmon of felony charges.
"The system worked the way it was supposed to work."
"Is there anything you think the prosecution should have done differently?"
"Absolutely not. I stand behind Scott Larson who handled this case."
Kinny Redmon, a woman who many believed admitted to putting her ex-boyfriend's 3-month old puppy in an oven, walked away from several felony charges.
"I don't think anything went wrong. We can't create evidence that isn't there."
The prosecution didn't have any physical DNA evidence to offer in court; the type of scientific proof Rietz says juries prefer. But, in this case, she believes, even if they had something like fingerprints, Redmon lived in the house one East Water Street where it happened, and it wouldn't have proven anything.
"This was not as simple of a case as some people might have thought."
The state played audio of Redmon calling ex-boyfriend Dimarrio Zander from Carle saying, "I put the puppy in the oven and baked it."
The defense says it wasn't her and claims she went to the hospital because she was sick and called Zander for a ride home.
When a video recording of her saying it again to a friend from jail was played, the defense claimed it was just a conversation between friends discussing the case and not an admission.
"We put on all the evidence that we had. There's nothing we could have or should have done differently. You don't know what is going to happen when you put a witness on the stand."
Rietz says, when the prosecution put Zander on the stand, he backpedaled, not saying specifically it was Redmon and instead saying only it was a woman.
The DA's office could have subpoenaed the phone records for both.
"That happens in these type of cases. Very similar to domestic violence cases. Someone might make a statement. Then, for a variety of reasons, they might change their mind."
Rietz says another rare thing about this case is, by law, the defendant gets to choose the number of jurors they want. This was the state's first with only six.
"There's research to support that a six-person goes in favor of the defendant. We may have to take a look at that."
Redmon and Zander have a 1-year old child together. The state issued a custody petition saying there may be evidence of neglect.
Zander has custody, but DCFS still has guardianship. The issue of where the child ends up still has to go to court.
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