A judge’s decision that the word “victim” generally could not be used in court to refer to the people shot by Kyle Rittenhouse after protests in Kenosha, Wis., last year drew widespread attention and outrage this week….
Judge Schroeder…also said that he would allow the terms “looters” and “rioters” to be used to refer to the men who were shot — Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz — if the defense is able to establish evidence that they were engaged in those activities that night.
Thomas Binger, a prosecutor, argued that the judge was creating a “double standard” and said that the words [“rioters” and “looters”] he [the prosecutor] sought to have prohibited — relating to rioting and other damage — were “as loaded, if not more loaded, than the term ‘victim’….”
…Mr. Huber, who died, had come to downtown Kenosha in August 2020 to participate in protests of the police shooting; Mr. Rosenbaum, who was also killed, had joined the crowd for reasons that are unclear; and Mr. Grosskreutz was in Kenosha to volunteer as a medic at the protests…
Prosecutors have repeatedly tried to introduce evidence of Mr. Rittenhouse’s associations with the far-right Proud Boys, as well as a cellphone video taken weeks before the shootings in Kenosha in which Mr. Rittenhouse suggested that he wished he had his rifle so he could shoot men leaving a pharmacy. The judge did not allow either as evidence for trial…
Mr. Rittenhouse, who has been charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of two men and the wounding of another, is expected to argue that he fired his gun because he feared for his life. Prosecutors say he was a violent vigilante who illegally possessed the rifle and whose actions resulted in chaos and bloodshed…
Kimberley Motley, a lawyer who represents Mr. Grosskreutz and the estate of Mr. Rosenbaum, said on Wednesday that she considered all three men who were shot that night to be victims.
“The question is whether legally Kyle Rittenhouse made them a victim,” she said, “and whether his actions were justified.”
PLAY VIDEO 24:43–
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007409660/kyle-rittenhouse-shooting-video-analysis.html?referringSource=articleShare
www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/us/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-victims.html
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