A judge’s decision to let Kyle Rittenhouse’s attorneys refer to the men their client shot as “rioters” and “looters” has liberals melting down in rage.
SO WHAT
The “fiery but mostly peaceful” narrative won’t die.
WHAT HAPPENED
Schroeder sided with the defense during a pre-trial hearing Monday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after previously ruling prosecutors cannot refer to the three men shot by Rittenhouse as “victims” during his upcoming murder trial.
Schroeder was responding Monday to the state’s request that Rittenhouse’s attorneys be barred from using “pejorative” terms to describe the men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, who were killed, and Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded.
- If prosecutors will be able to argue Rittenhouse “is a cold-blooded killer, then why couldn’t [an attorney] call someone a rioter?” the judge asked the prosecutors Monday, per Kenosha News.
- Schroeder also scoffed at Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Tom Binger’s attempts to downplay Rosenbaum’s actions on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, when he was killed amid destructive racial justice protests.
- “All we’re talking about is arson. We’re talking about being loud and disorderly,” Binger told the judge, who replied: “I can’t believe some of the things you’re saying.”
Reaffirming his ruling against calling the men “victims,” Schroeder explained it is “a loaded, loaded word.”
THE REACTION
Left-leaning journalists and activists on Twitter condemned Schroeder’s decision as proof the U.S. criminal justice system is “rigged” and America is irredeemably “racist.”
- “Our white supremacist court system will bend in any direction possible to make life easier for white supremacist murderer posterboy Kyle Rittenhouse,” tweeted Cameron Kasky, a Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist.
- The popular Occupy Democrats account suggested Schroeder is a Nazi sympathizer and called for him to be “REMOVED FROM THE CASE.”
Will Bunch, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, commiserated with his fellow “seething” liberals and listed Schroeder’s supposed transgressions on the bench, such as his reputation for doling out stiff sentences and the time he urged AIDS tests for sex workers.
THE CASE
Rittenhouse, now 18, has been charged with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide for shooting the men during violent racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.
- He has pleaded not guilty of all the charges and argued the shootings were in self-defense.
- The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 1.
