Kyle Rittenhouse just recieved a big pre-trial victory from the judge presiding over his case.
The ruling allows his lawyers to refer to the men he shot in self-defense as “looters,” “rioters,” and “arsonists.”
However, the judge also ruled that prosecutors may not refer to them as “victims.”
Curcuit Judge Bruce Schroeder made the ruling on Monday.
He said that using the term “victim” would be prejudicial to Rittenhouse.
“The word victim is a loaded, loaded word,” Judge Schroeder said.
This is a big moral victory for Rittenhouse, who maintains that he acted in self-defense back in August of 2020, when he shot three men in Kenosha.
Two of the men died while the third, Gaige Grosskreutz, sued Kenosha police and claimed that they “enabled” Rittenhouse.
The Daily Caller has more on this breaking news:
Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense team scored a pre-trial victory Monday after a Wisconsin judge ruled that prosecutors cannot refer to the three men Rittenhouse allegedly shot as “victims.”
Judge Bruce Schroeder denied Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger’s request to stop Rittenhouse’s defense team from referring to Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz as rioters and arsonists.
“If more than one of them were engaged in arson, rioting, looting, I’m not going to tell the defense you can’t call them that,” Schroeder said, according to ABC 7. Schroeder also said the three men could not be referred to as victims, according to the report.
Here's more details on the ruling from the Hill:
Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder warned Rittenhouse's defense against using the terms in opening statements, but said they could be used to describe the men in closing arguments if there was evidence to suggest they were engaging in criminal activity, The Chicago Tribune reported.
“He can demonize them if he wants, if he thinks it will win points with the jury,” Schroeder said, according to the Tribune.
Schroeder had earlier ruled that the men could not be referred to as victims, because doing so would be prejudicial to Rittenhouse. The Tribune noted that these sorts of rulings are not uncommon in self-defense cases.
“The word victim is a loaded, loaded word,” the judge said.
Rittenhouse's trial begins on November 1st.
With this bit of promising news coupled with the actual video that's been released to the public for a while now, Kyle Rittenhouse has a good chance of winning this case.
Here's the breakdown second-by-second of the Kenosha shootings:
The prosecutor of the case hasn't exactly inspired confidence in his case against Rittenhouse either.
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!