{"id":13999,"date":"2021-11-08T15:51:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T15:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/?p=13999"},"modified":"2021-11-08T15:51:52","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T15:51:52","slug":"kyle-rittenhouses-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/kyle-rittenhouses-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Rittenhouse\u2019s Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kyle Rittenhouse Trail \u2014 the 17-year-old who fatally shot two people and injured a third during protests and looting in Kenosha, Wis. in August 2020 \u2014 ruled on Monday that the defense can refer to the individuals Rittenhouse shot as \u201crioters\u201d and \u201clooters\u201d while prosecutors may not call them \u201cvictims.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chicago Tribune reported<\/a> Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder\u00a0cautioned Rittenhouse\u2019s lawyers not to use the term \u201crioters\u201d and \u201clooters\u201d during their opening argument but may do so in their closing arguments if they present evidence to suggest the men Rittenhouse shot were indeed engaged in criminal behavior. Schroeder, by contrast, ruled prosecutors can not describe the men Rittenhouse shot as victims at any point during the trial.<\/p>\n

Schroeder ruled that referring to Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz as \u201cvictims\u201d would be prejudicial to Rittenhouse in a case where the defense is arguing their client was acting in self-defense.<\/p>\n

Schroeder\u2019s decision \u2014 one of the last he\u2019s likely to render before the case moves to jury selection \u2014 is not uncommon in a case involving self-defense claims, which dispute who bears responsibility for the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word victim is a loaded, loaded word,\u201d Schroeder said.<\/p>\n

Rittenhouse was in Kenosha the night after demonstrations and riots over the police shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake. Demonstrations the night before had seen rioters smashing windows, setting fires to local businesses and reportedly stealing a cop car.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rittenhouse, who was armed at the time with an AR-15 style rifle, was being chased by Rosenbaum when he turned and fatally fired on the man. Rittenhouse was then chased by other people who were in the streets demonstrating. As Rittenhouse was being chased, a member of the crowd struck him. Rittenhouse continued to run but appeared to trip and fall. After falling to the ground one man appeared to try to kick Rittenhouse in the head and Huber ran at Rittenhouse with a skateboard in his hands and struck Rittenhouse before the teenager fired a second fatal shot at Huber. Video showed Grosskreutz then ran up to Rittenhouse and pointed a handgun before the teenager fired a third shot, which struck the man in the bicep.<\/p>\n

Mark Richards, one of Rittenhouse\u2019s attorneys, indicated the defense team intends to argue that Rosenbaum posed a particular danger that night, engaging in arson and threatening to kill people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe behavior of many people there was lawless.\u201d Richards said. \u201cMr. Rosenbaum was at the top of that list.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schroeder said he would allow Rittenhouse\u2019s attorneys to present evidence of bad behavior that night by the men their client shot as it could demonstrate how dangerous Rittenhouse would have thought they were.<\/p>\n

Schroeder added that Rittenhouse\u2019s defense team \u201ccan demonize\u201d the three men Rittenhouse shot \u201cif he thinks it will win points with the jury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors disagreed with Schroeder\u2019s decision and his characterization of the term \u201cvictim\u201d as a loaded word.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe terms that I\u2019m identifying here such as rioter, looter and arsonist are as loaded, if not more loaded, than the term victim,\u201d Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger said during the Monday hearing.<\/p>\n

Binger argued that the defense\u2019s plan to characterize Rosenbaum as dangerous \u201cis an attempt to tell the jury that Mr. Rosenbaum was a bad guy who deserved to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schroeder also blocked the prosecution\u2019s request to block Rittenhouse\u2019s defense team from presenting evidence that local law enforcement provided water to Rittenhouse and other armed individuals standing guard outside businesses and thanked them for their presence in Kenosha that night. In permitting Rittenhouse\u2019s team to present that evidence, Schroeder reportedly said he wouldn\u2019t permit them to argue the encouraging actions reflected the police department\u2019s overall opinion but that those actions might have shaped Rittenhouse\u2019s mindset in the moments leading up to the shooting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyle Rittenhouse Trail \u2014 the 17-year-old who fatally shot two people and injured a third during protests and looting in Kenosha, Wis. in August 2020 \u2014 ruled on Monday that the defense can refer to the individuals Rittenhouse shot as \u201crioters\u201d and \u201clooters\u201d while prosecutors may not call them \u201cvictims.\u201d The Chicago Tribune reported Circuit Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[860,834,40,5,920,1],"tags":[1180],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13999"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14003,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13999\/revisions\/14003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}