There Should Be Consequences When People Are Murdered

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, a young man accused of murdering two individuals and wounding a third at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, more that a year ago, got underway this past week and should come to an end next week, possibly as early as Monday.  Although the verdict is not a foregone conclusion, many are expecting that based on the erratic behaviors of the judge during the trial, that the shooter will be found not guilty.  Wisconsin's governor, Tony Evers, said that the state has five hundred national guardsmen set to deploy quickly to Kenosha in the event of public violence after the verdict is rendered.

Violence did erupt in Kenosha in August of 2020 following the police wounding of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old unarmed black man who had been tased by police before being shot multiple times in the back.  Blake was paralyzed as a result of the police action - an action that many considered to be an unwarranted use of excessive force.   Many also considered race to be the underlying factor in the aggressive police action.  Soon after the shooting of Blake, public protests broke out on the streets of Kenosha.

Kyle Rittenhouse was a seventeen-year-old resident of Illinois at the time of the public protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  On the evening of August 25th, 2020, Rittenhouse had his mother drive him twenty-five miles to Kenosha and drop him off at the scene of  the public unrest.  He was armed with an AR-15-style automatic weapon, and he also had a medical bag with him.  Rittenhouse was not qualified to own the weapon that he was carrying, and he would later claim that he came to Kenosha to provide medical assistance - and at one point he even said he was there to help clean graffiti from business buildings.

Rittenhouse was filmed walking along the streets during the protests, rifle in hand, along with other armed individuals.   The first person he shot was thirty-six-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, a non-protestor who apparently just happened to be in the area.  There was some indication that Rosenbaum, who was unarmed, may have tossed a plastic bag toward Rittenhouse and a gun fired somewhere at the same time.  Rittenhouse fired one shot, killing Rosenbaum, and was heard yelling into his cellphone that he had just killed someone.

As Rittenhouse was fleeing the scene of the Rosenbaum shooting, a twenty-six-year-old unarmed protester named Anthony Huber spotted the armed youth and ran toward him.   Huber's girlfriend who was also at the scene said that he pushed her aside and ran toward the shooter in an heroic attempt to disarm the teen and save others.  Huber apparently reached toward  Rittenhouse with one hand trying to grab the rifle - while holding his skateboard in the other hand.  Rittenhouse then killed him and later claimed he felt threatened by the skateboard.

The third victim, Gaige Grosskreutz, who is now 27, was near Anthony Huber when he was shot.  Grosskreutz said he ducked to the ground when Huber got hit, but then stood, put his hands in the air, and began moving toward Rittenhouse - and Rittenhouse reacted by shooting him in the arm.  Grosskreutz, who was unarmed, was a trained paramedic who had come to the scene to provide medical treatment.  He was wearing a cap that said "paramedic."

In pretrial maneuverings, the trial judge, Bruce Schroeder, decreed that the three people who were shot by Rittenhouse could not be referred to as "victims" until a jury had determined that they were indeed victims, and the judge also said that the dead and wounded could be referred to as "looters" and "rioters" if it could be established in court that they were engaged in those types of activities.

The judge's cellphone has rung twice during the trial, and his ringtone is a snippet from Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA."  On Wednesday of this week he tried to make a joke about Asian food, and his attempt at humor not only fell flat, it was also regarded by some in the Asian community as an ethnic or racial slur.  At one point in the trial the judge issued what was referred to in the press as a "vicious rebuke" of the prosecution over one aspect of its case.  Judge Schroeder was also photographed sitting at his bench perusing a cookie catalogue during a break in the trial, giving the impression that he was not overly focused on the proceedings.

Yesterday the judge also told attorneys that he unless the rifle used by Rittenhouse had an unlawfully short barrel, he will instruct the jury that they cannot convict him on the charge that he was a minor in possession of a firearm, a charge that was generally considered to be a slam-dunk for a guilty verdict.

Again, the sense seems to be, at least in the popular press, that the stage is being set for an acquittal.  When that happens there is likely to be more public outcry about racial inequities in policing, as well as anger over the impacts of vigilantism and prejudicial trial judges - and it likely will all end up back in the streets.

And that's a shame because when people are murdered, there should be consequences.