Not a lawyer, but I even suspect that there's a burden-of-proof issue with this. In defamation, you basically have to prove that someone lied (i.e. prove that Rittenhouse is not a murderer, in this case). A criminal "not guilty" verdict isn't proof that someone didn't commit murder; it is a statement that it was not definitively proven ("beyond a reasonable doubt") that they ARE a murderer. It is only criminal court where you are "innocent until proven guilty". Hence why wrongful death lawsuits (where it's just "preponderance of evidence" shit) can succeed even if criminal murder charges fail.
Not a lawyer, but I even suspect that there's a burden-of-proof issue with this. In defamation, you basically have to prove that someone lied (i.e. prove that Rittenhouse is not a murderer, in this case). A criminal "not guilty" verdict isn't proof that someone didn't commit murder; it is a statement that it was not definitively proven ("beyond a reasonable doubt") that they ARE a murderer. It is only criminal court where you are "innocent until proven guilty". Hence why wrongful death lawsuits (where it's just "preponderance of evidence" shit) can succeed even if criminal murder charges fail.