Jury in Kyle Rittenhouse trial deliberates for third day, MSNBC banned by judge

Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and attempted homicide in the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, during a chaotic night of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.

Kenosha has been on edge since the start of the highly divisive trial more than two weeks ago, with the security of the jury a concern for authorities.

A person who said they had ties to MSNBC and who was suspected of following a bus carrying the jury was briefly taken into custody on Wednesday night and issued a citation for running a red light, the trial judge said.

MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I’ve instructed that no one from MSNBC News will be permitted in this building for the duration of this trial,” Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder. “This is a very serious matter and I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is.”

Earlier, the Kenosha Police Department said it arrested someone claiming to be with a national media outlet for traffic violations. It said they suspected the person was trying to photograph jurors, but that jury security was not breached.

The jury of seven women and five men has so far spent roughly 17 hours weighing two weeks of testimony, which included considerable evidence in support of Rittenhouse’s assertion that he used his weapon after being attacked. He faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.

For the last hour on Wednesday, the jury re-watched videos in evidence, including drone footage of the Rosenbaum shooting and videos of the subsequent shootings of Huber and Grosskreutz and the attempted shooting of an unidentified male.

Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, has pleaded not guilty and testified last week that he fired his weapon in self defense. He said Rosenbaum, the first person he shot that night, grabbed the barrel of his gun.

Defense lawyers made a new request for a mistrial on Wednesday, saying prosecutors withheld the high-definition version of a drone video in evidence and enhanced it in order to portray Rittenhouse as a threat. Prosecutors denied the defense’s allegation.

The shootings took place in Kenosha during protests – marred by arson, rioting and looting – that followed the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, who was left paralyzed from the waist down.

The trial has emerged as the most closely watched case involving a civilian’s to self-defense since George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in 2013. Like Zimmerman, Rittenhouse has become a polarizing figure, viewed as heroic by some conservatives who favor expansive gun rights and as a symbol of a reckless American gun culture by many on the left.

REUTERS