Kyle Rittenhouse, center, enters the courtroom with attorney Mark Richards, left, and Corey Chirafisi.
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Kyle Rittenhouse, center, enters the courtroom with attorney Mark Richards, left, and Corey Chirafisi.
Pool / Getty Images
After a full third day of deliberation, the jury in the criminal trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, who shot dead two men last year during unrest in Kenosha, Wis.
The panel of 12 jurors debated for about 23 hours from Tuesday morning to try to reach a unanimous verdict on the five charges Rittenhouse faces. If convicted of the most serious crime, first-degree murder, Rittenhouse faces life in prison.
Juries must assess whether Rittenhouse’s fear for his life was a legitimate and reasonable fear, and if so, whether his use of deadly force was reasonable, or whether he acted recklessly when he fired his AR-15-style rifle that night, killing Joseph Rosenbaum. , 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and Gaige Grosskreutz, then 26.
Experts say that the lengthy deliberation time is not surprising in this case.
Rittenhouse’s face five mortal sins, four of which are different fees. In addition, on charges related to the Huber and Grosskreutz shootings, jurors may consider lower-level versions of the original charge.
“There’s a lot of layers involved here,” said Angela Jones, an associate professor of criminology at Texas State University who studies jury behavior. so”.
Complicated jury instructions can add to deliberation time, she said.
It took Judge Bruce Schroeder more than an hour to read aloud 36 pages of the jury’s instructions, which were filled with vague legal terms like “reasonable belief” and “utter disregard for human life.” are important factors in the juror’s assessment of the case. On Thursday, a juror asked the judge if she could take the instructions home.
“Even if you have a college degree, if you’re not a lawyer, you won’t understand the legal jargon that’s being used,” says Jones. “If jurors have different views on what is ‘reasonable’, … that’s where they could be hung when it comes to a unanimous decision.”
“Conventional wisdom is that longer deliberation times tend to be better for defense,” says Jones.
The jury considered versions of the two main videos
On Wednesday, the jury spent nearly an hour reviewing versions of two pivotal videos that captured Rittenhouse’s encounter with Joseph Rosenbaum, the confrontation that initially set off further events into the night. August 25, 2020.
One, an infrared video captured from an FBI surveillance plane, shows a crowd jostling around a used estate as Rosenbaum runs into the frame with Rittenhouse following him. Two pauses; Rosenbaum then started chasing Rittenhouse, who then turned around and shot him.
Second, a video was captured by a drone located about a block away from the old car park, capturing many interactions. But given the drone’s distance from the encounter and the fact that it was filmed at night, it’s difficult to see exactly what happened between the two before the chase began.
Prosecutors argued that the videos showed Rittenhouse provoking the encounter as he pointed a rifle at Rosenbaum, prompting Rosenbaum to chase him into the lot. If successful, the provocative argument would undercut Rittenhouse’s claim that he acted in self-defence.
In testimony last week, Rittenhouse denied pointing a gun at Rosenbaum before the chase.
Two vaguely false claims
Rittenhouse’s attorneys on Wednesday called for an action against the drone video. They say that prosecutors – who obtained full quality video of the drone halfway through the trial – sent a compressed version of the video to defense attorneys, meaning they did not have access to the higher definition version until testimony ended last week.
Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi said: “We’re going to do this case a little bit differently.
Prosecutors admitted the mistake but said it was unintentional, and urged the judge to dismiss the suggestion. The jury viewed the high-quality version during the conclusion of the debate and deliberation on Wednesday.
It was the defense team’s second erroneous move on the trial, following a petition filed after chief prosecutor Thomas Binger scrutinized Rittenhouse, in which Judge Bruce Schroeder warned Binger for trespassing. violated Rittenhouse’s right to remain silent.
Andrew Martinez, a defense attorney based in Baraboo, Wis., who was not involved in the case, said it was unusual for defense attorneys to file a second lawsuit before the judge ruled.
“I feel like the defense is feeling nervous here,” Martinez said.
But perhaps even more unusual, Martinez added, is that Schroeder has yet to rule on either false claim.
“That’s the opposite of what most judges want to do,” he said. “The judges want to give the parties a fair chance to be heard, a fair trial, and then end it. There are victims, there are survivors, there are deeply concerned parties here. And everyone wants this done.”
Judge bans MSNBC from courtroom
Kenosha police reported on Thursday that a journalist who claimed to be working for MSNBC was stopped by police after running a red light when he appeared to tail a bus carrying jurors away from the courthouse. Wednesday night.
“This is a very serious matter,” Schroeder said in court on Thursday. The judge barred MSNBC journalists from entering the courthouse for the duration of the trial.
Last night, a person believed to have links to a national media outlet was briefly detained and given several traffic-related citations. Police suspect the man was trying to take pictures of the jurors. This incident is under further investigation.
– Kenosha Police Department (@KenoshaPolice) November 18, 2021
In a statement to NPR, a spokesperson for NBC News acknowledged that a freelancer working for the organization was stopped by Kenosha police.
“Last night, a freelancer received a traffic ticket. While the traffic violation took place near the grand jury’s vehicle, the freelancer never contacted or intended to communicate with the jury during deliberation, and never photographed or intended to photograph them. We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with authorities in any investigation.” , the spokesman said.
Additional reporting of Wisconsin Public Radio by Corrinne Hess.
