The judge presiding over the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old accused of shooting and killing two protesters last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is annoyed.
Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder is annoyed specifically with CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who has criticized the judge’s handling of the trial.
During a sidebar this week with the prosecution and defense, Schroeder warned that the press’s characterizations of the trial, including recent commentary by Toobin, threaten to undermine the public’s confidence in the court’s eventual ruling on the Rittenhouse matter.
“There are people on the media, on reputable sites, that are saying things that are totally bizarre,” the judge said Wednesday.
Schroeder is presumably referring to the press’s reaction last month after he ruled the prosecution could not use the word “victim” to refer to the people Rittenhouse shot. The judge also ruled the defense could use the words “arsonists,” “looters,” or “rioters” to describe the people who were shot, provided they can prove those people were indeed arsonists, looters, or rioters.
Following the ruling, many in the press, including Toobin, were flummoxed.
“It is a very weird … ruling,” he said. “What’s very weird is allowing this extremely pejorative, assuming the conclusion, words of ‘rioters’ and ‘looters,’ which all in all should help Rittenhouse’s defense a great deal.”
He added, “[It’s] a very troubling situation because, again, using [those words] suggests that Rittenhouse was justified in what he was doing, because these were bad people that he shot, they were committing crimes, they were out there looting, they were out there being arsonists, when that is very much in dispute in the trial. … what these people were doing.”
Toobin noted for good measure that it’s not “the victims who are on trial here” but rather Rittenhouse.
Although barring the word “victim” at trial is not exactly the norm, it’s also not wholly unprecedented, according to legal experts cited by both The New York Times and CBS News.
It varies “from courtroom to courtroom at the judge’s discretion,” University of Wisconsin Law School Professor Keith Findley told CBS, explaining the point is to avoid prejudicing the jury against the defendant.
The New York Times reports likewise that the term “victim” can “appear prejudicial in a court of law, heavily influencing a jury by presupposing which people have been wronged.”
It adds, “State law in Wisconsin allows a person to fire in self-defense if the shooter ‘reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself.’”
On Wednesday, Judge Schroeder griped specifically about Toobin’s coverage of the “victim” ruling.
“This was on CNN, Jeffrey Toobin and another attorney there, and a comment was made that the ruling was incomprehensible, and I think they obviously are not familiar with this rule,” the judge said.
He continued, taking aim at the broader press, saying, “I’m going to comment about the media again because there was a gentleman on TV night before last who said this is the most divisive case in the country to date. So anything that undermines public confidence in what happens here is very important.”
“It’s important for this town,” Schroeder said, “it’s important for this country, to have people have confidence in the result of this trial, whatever it is. And I don’t care what it is.”
Earlier, during jury selection on Tuesday, Schroeder also bemoaned what he characterizes as a glut of “irresponsible” news coverage, including reports that are “deliberately biased.”
Sure, the media could probably cool it and play the Rittenhouse trial more down the middle than they have, but where is the fun (and profit) in that?
