Rittenhouse judge says, ‘This is not a political trial’; but can jurors leave their beliefs at the courtroom door?
KENOSHA, Wis. — As attorneys worked to pick jurors for Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial, a prosecutor asked the randomly summoned Kenosha County residents whether any of them were worried that reaching a verdict in the case would lead to a confrontation with friends or family members.
“I won’t want to be hosting Thanksgiving,” said prospective Juror No. 31, who described how her nephew used to work as a police officer and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“You are concerned that if you are a juror and you make a decision one way or the other in this case, it may cause some discomfort or make it awkward with family at the holidays. Is that fair to say?” asked Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger.
“Yes,” the woman answered, before referring to her nephew. “It’s one of the reasons why he left the police.”
Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder has insisted on preventing politics from playing a role in Rittenhouse’s high-profile trial. Jurors will decide whether the teenager fired his AR-15-style rifle in self-defense or broke the law in fatally shooting two men and wounding a third amid the often-destructive social unrest that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who remains paralyzed below the waist.
Schroeder has noted how Rittenhouse’s actions that night became an issue in last year’s presidential race. He has acknowledged how the case is viewed by some as a referendum on the Second Amendment right to bear arms. And he has complained frequently about media coverage — going so far as to stop testimony in the trial to rail against a cable news network’s criticism of
