An unknown person was caught filming the jury that will deliver the verdict in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, the judge hearing the case announced Tuesday.
“It was reported to me that this morning, at pickup, there was someone there and was video-recording the jury,” Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder said. “The officers approached the person and required him, him? Her? I didn’t even ask, to delete the video and return the phone to him. I’ve instructed, if it happens again, they are to take the phone, and bring it here, so that’s for your information.”
Judge Bruce Schroeder stated that someone was recording video of the jury this morning. He said the person was told to delete the photo and that if it happened again the court would confiscate the phone. pic.twitter.com/KOdaomTifr
— John Curtis (@Johnmcurtis) November 9, 2021
The Rittenhouse jurors are not being sequestered. Schroeder said at the beginning of the trial that he would “resist [sequestering the jury] any way I can, but I can’t rule it out,” describing the likelihood of doing so as “less than 1%.” He added that there “are [security] measures that will be taken with the jury that is selected to deal with” fears of threats and violence. (RELATED: Judge In Kyle Rittenhouse Trial Boots Juror Over Joke About Jacob Blake)
“You’re scared to go to your car,” one juror said of public attention directed towards the trial. “You’re scared to go home.”
Cortez Rice, who has claimed to be George Floyd’s relative, said in a Nov. 6 Facebook live stream that Rittenhouse jurors were being filmed in the courtroom.
“In Kenosha, I ain’t even gonna name the people that I know that’s up in there,” Rice said. “But there’s cameras in there. There’s definitely cameras up in there and there’s definitely people taking pictures of the juries and everything like that. We know what’s going on.”
Schroeder has not banned cameras from the courtroom, unlike Hennepin County Court Judge Regina Chu, who is overseeing the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter. Potter fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April.