The judge overseeing the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has decided that the prosecutors may not refer to the two men Rittenhouse shot and killed during the 2020 riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as “victims.”
Judge Bruce Schroeder ruled that prosecutors may not refer to the two men as “victims” at any point, saying that such a term would carry inherent bias and could unfairly color the jury’s opinion. Such a ruling is common when the jury is tasked with deciding if an action constitutes self-defense.
“The word ‘victim’ is a loaded, loaded word,” said Schroeder, according to the Chicago Tribune.
JUDGE DISALLOWS ‘OTHER ACTS’ EVIDENCE IN KYLE RITTENHOUSE TRIAL
The defense can’t use “pejorative terms” in opening statements, specifically “rioter” and “looter,” to refer to the men killed by Rittenhouse. However, they may do so in their closing statements if they have provided sufficient evidence that the men Rittenhouse shot were, in fact, rioting and looting.
“The terms that I’m identifying here such as ‘rioter,’ ‘looter’ and ‘arsonist’ are as loaded, if not more loaded, than the term ‘victim,’” one of the prosecutors, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, contested.
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The jury selection for Rittenhouse, 18, begins on Nov. 1. He is pleading “not guilty” in the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, as well as the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 in August 2020, says he shot his AR-15 in self-defense during the riots following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white police officer.
