Kenosha County Circuit Court docket Choose Bruce Schroeder is understood to be considered as a troublesome jurist.
Throughout at the moment’s line of questioning, Schroeder stopped prosecutor Thomas Binger’s cross-examination of Kyle Rittenhouse to admonish the prosecution staff’s line of questioning.
The 2 had a testy alternate after the decide requested the jury to depart the courtroom.
Schroeder additionally made headlines final month by reiterating his longstanding rule of not permitting prosecutors to discuss with folks as “victims” earlier than juries in his courtroom.
On the similar time, Schroeder mentioned at a pretrial listening to that the lads who had been shot may very well be described as “looters” or “rioters” if the protection can present they engaged in such exercise throughout protests after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in August 2020, leaving Blake paralyzed.
His choice instantly sparked debate and in some circumstances outrage in authorized circles and Schroeder, the longest serving energetic decide in Wisconsin’s trial courts was, as soon as once more, thrust into the highlight.
“His phrase is ultimate and he is not afraid to make robust choices,” mentioned Dan Adams, a Wisconsin felony protection lawyer and former prosecutor.
Schroeder, 75, has come underneath scrutiny many instances throughout his almost 40 years on the bench: From a 2018 sentence — thrown out on attraction — requiring a convicted shoplifter to inform retailer managers she was on supervision for retail theft, to ordering AIDS exams for intercourse staff within the late Eighties.
“He has a status for doing what he believes is the appropriate factor and being an unbiased thinker,” mentioned William Lynch, a retired lawyer who served on the board of the ACLU of Wisconsin on the time of Schroeder ruling in regards to the AIDS exams.
“And it is his courtroom. He would not prefer to be pushed round by both occasion. So he has a powerful sense of his personal his bearing within the courtroom,” Lynch mentioned.
CNN has sought remark from Schroeder.
A seasoned southeast Wisconsin lawyer who has appeared earlier than Schroeder many instances described the decide as “somebody who has studied the Structure and the enumerated rights for felony defendants and… respects the appropriate of the protection to placed on a protection.”
“He is a brilliant old skool man,” mentioned the lawyer, who requested to not be named as a result of he nonetheless seems earlier than Schroeder.
“And that does not imply that he is outdated. I imply he is 75 years outdated, which is older than most judges, however he is simply an old style man. He nonetheless operates his courtroom prefer it’s 1980.”
Schroeder will probably be 80 when his present phrases ends in 2026.
The Wisconsin protection lawyer who requested to not be recognized famous that Schroeder’s sharp tongue and generally combative method have “mellowed” through the years.
“He barks some and, for youthful legal professionals, they’re very delicate to that form of factor. ‘Oh, the decide yelled at me.'” the lawyer mentioned. “Like, toughen up, buttercup. That is felony courtroom. Older legal professionals are like, ‘Okay, he yelled at me. After which I noticed him within the hallway and he requested me how my son’s basketball sport was.’ That is simply his model.”
