After the third day of discussions, the jurors in Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial departed the courtroom about 4:10 p.m. CT on Thursday.
Judge Bruce Schroeder told jurors, “You’ve obviously put in a busy day and have wanted to leave for the night, which is OK.” Over the course of three days, the seven women, as well as five men, spent roughly 23 1/2 hours discussing, counting lunch breaks.
Judge Schroeder accepted one juror’s bid to remove copies of the instructions home, noting the 36 pages are lengthy.
“I do not really know about you people, but I watched a little TV in the dawn and dusk. Even some of the country’s top legal minds concur with us the instructions are quite perplexing,” the judge informed the prosecutors and opposition.
Mark Richards, the defense counsel, was wary of jurors taking the instructions home with them. “I’m concerned it’ll be like the old encyclopedia game when they start defining words and stuff like that without doing any outside study.”
Richards informed the judge, “That’s my worry.” On Tuesday, the jury sought photocopies of the 36-page jury instructions. On Wednesday, they returned to the courthouse for a quick review of the trial’s films.
The #Rittenhouse standoff means either 1. Jury wants to find him GUILTY but there are one or two holdouts. Very bad. 2. Jury wants to ACQUIT him but there are one or two holdouts. Not as bad, but also bad. If it’s a hung jury, the judge should declare a mistrial “with prejudice”
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) November 18, 2021
What if the Jury Hangs?
The Kyle Rittenhouse trial started arguments on Tuesday morning.
The 12 jurors pondered for over 23 hours before reaching a decision on the 18-year-old’s five felonies in the gunshot deaths of two men during disturbances in Kenosha after the police killing of Jacob Blake in August 2020.
Jury members will not have a defined time limit for deliberation, but each charge must be decided unanimously. Judge Bruce Schroeder has the authority to declare a mistrial if the jurors cannot decide on a judgment for any of the charges.
The prosecutor might then repeat the case on the counts in which there was no unanimous judgment, but the rest of the judgments would be upheld.
As the jury tries to decide for the fourth day, Wisconsin police forces go on high alert
A manifestly innocent Rittenhouse still at this moment faces the prospect of life in prison because a jury knows he did nothing wrong but is terrified their lives could be ruined for finding him not guilty
This is the America that the Left wanted to create, and it’s here
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 17, 2021
The circumstances around an approaching verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial are being closely monitored by law enforcement authorities in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Kenosha courthouse, where hundreds of demonstrators have congregated each day, is surrounded by police officers and deputies from the city cops and sheriff’s departments.
Tensions among opposing factions reached a breaking point on Wednesday. Police crowded the front of the house and detained two persons, one of whom was charged with violence and public disorder, according to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department.
The sheriff’s and police agencies have begun issuing coordinated announcements about their preparations for the trial. The authorities have stated that they will continue to monitor the issue and will work with other police agencies as needed.
