So far, Kyle Rittenhouse broke down on the stand, the judge admonished the prosecution team and there was a heated debate over a video

Is Kyle Rittenhouse’s testimony on the stand so far helping or hurting his case? Legal experts weighed in on CNN during a break in the trial this afternoon. Here’s what they said.

CNN legal analyst and civil rights attorney Areva Martin

“It was a risky move by the defense team to put him on the stand… but I think in this case, given how the evidence has been presented by the prosecution, that it is working for the defense.”

“They presented a very different picture of a Kyle Rittenhouse than what we had seen in the media reports. This is a Kyle Rittenhouse that went there to do good, to take graffiti off of a school, to render aid, to help save a business. This was a very … humanized Kyle Rittenhouse, and that’s what the defense wanted to do … I think so far Kyle’s testimony probably went over pretty well.” 

CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates

“If I was the defense, I would have put him on the stand… There was a lot of sympathetic media towards him, people who thought about him as essentially as bit of a martyr from this inflection point on racial tension in America.”

However, if “I’m the prosecution, I need him to take the stand for the reasons that came through on the cross-examination. Remember, when he was asked questions by his own attorney you saw the waterworks coming out. He was crying… he was overcome with emotion.”

CNN analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson

The defense has “done excellent … the reality is I say they did well.”

“He explained himself with respect to why force was necessary … He said, ‘there was a gun pointed at me, I was in fear for my life.'”

“The reality is that the jurors will render a verdict based upon all types of evidence, but with regard to a defendant testifying, I think this couldn’t have gone much better than it did, and the cross couldn’t touch him with respect to the prosecutor cross-examining him to try to otherwise discredit him. Didn’t do a good job.”

CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin

“The good news for Kyle Rittenhouse is that he’s not on trial for being an idiot. He’s on trial for homicide.”

“This is a tough case for the prosecution because it does seem like he has a plausible case of self-defense and … if it were illegal to be an idiot, the jails would be even more crowded than they are now. Homicide is a different matter … he may have a defense here.”