Motions in Kyle Rittenhouse shooting case to be argued Friday
Six weeks before the scheduled start of Kyle Rittenhouse's trial, a judge in Kenosha on Friday is set to hear arguments on a raft of motions that could shape what a jury hears.
Rittenhouse was 17 when he was charged with killing two men and wounding a third during violence in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, after the shootings were mostly caught on various bystander videos. His lawyers say Rittenhouse acted in self-defense and the case immediately became a conservative cause célèbre.
As the Nov. 1 trial date nears, Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder will decide what evidence must be shared, and what "other acts" of Rittenhouse and one of his victims can be presented to the jury.
Prosecutors want to introduce videos of Rittenhouse hitting a girl who was fighting with his sister in July 2020, and of him saying he wished he had his rifle with him so he could shoot at people he seemed to assume were stealing from a CVS drug store 15 days before the violence, and surveillance photos of Rittenhouse posing for pictures with Proud Boys members at a tavern after a court hearing in January.
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger is leading the prosecution. Rittenhouse is represented by Racine attorney Mark Richards and Corey Chirafisi of Madison.
The state says the CVS video shows Rittenhouse was "eager to use deadly force in an unlawful situation."
The defense says all those requests should be denied. The videos don't address what the defense says is the only issue in the case — whether Rittenhouse acted reasonably when he fired at his victims — and would only be prejudicial by leading jurors to make impermissible character inferences.
Prosecutors also want the judge to compel Rittenhouse's team to turn over a list of the likely tens of thousands of people who contributed to his defense and bought "Free Kyle" merchandise, to make sure none of them would be in the pool of potential jurors.
His lawyers say they don't have the information, and that whether a potential juror donated to Rittenhouse's defense fund is a simple question to ask during jury selection.
Prosecutors also want to exclude testimony from the defense's expert on self defense, John R. Black, of Oregon.
Defense motions are also pending, including one to dismiss the misdemeanor charge that Rittenhouse, as a minor, unlawfully possessed his AR-15 style rifle. The law says it's a crime for anyone under 18 to go armed with a dangerous weapon, but the defense says an exception allows 16- and 17-year-olds to legally carry rifles and shotguns with normal-length barrels.
The defense has also asked Schroeder to make prosecutors identify the witnesses it realistically intends to call. The list filed earlier this month includes 175 names, including a woman who was not in Kenosha the night of the shootings but merely sent an opinionated letter to the district attorney's office.
The defense wants to be able to bring up victim Joseph Rosenbaum's criminal record as a sex offender. They argue that because, as a felon, Rosenbaum couldn't legally possess a firearm, he had motive to try to take Rittenhouse's rifle from him that night, and was the initial aggressor in attempting to rob Rittenhouse of the rifle.
Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kyle Rittenhouse due back in court Friday for pretrial hearing
