The incident happened when a male juror escorted to his car joked about the shooting, Judge Bruce Schroeder said.
“I will summarize what I remember, what I was told,” Schroeder said. “He was telling a joke … he was telling a police officer … he said he was telling a joke about ‘Why did it take seven shots to shoot Jacob Blake,’ something in that sense.”
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger is particularly concerned about the incident.
“The joke tastes bad, there are a lot of bad jokes associated with all of this, this is one of them. But I think the rest of that joke is kind of pointing to some kind of racial bias which I think comes into play,” he said. .
The judge called the juror for questioning, and the juror confirmed that he had told the joke, but declined to repeat it.
The middle-aged juror seemed restless as, according to the pool reporter in court, he tried to hold a portable microphone during a conversation with the judge and spoke through a multicolored face mask.
“It had nothing to do with the case,” he told the judge.
“Clearly, the appearance of bias is present and would seriously jeopardize the outcome of the case,” Schroeder said.
“My feelings are that this had nothing to do with the case. It was not with Kyle and his accusations,” the juror told the judge.
“The public needs to be convinced that this is a fair trial,” Schroeder replied.
Both the defense and the prosecution agreed to dismiss the juror.
With the dismissal of the juror, there is a senate with a total of 19 jurors, 11 women and now eight men. According to the judge, that number will be reduced to 12 when the consultation begins.
Rittenhouse, now 18, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree manslaughter and attempted first-degree premeditated murder.
In introductory remarks, prosecutors said the evidence shows Rittenhouse chased and fatally shot Rosenbaum, 36, and then shot three other people who were trying to confront a person believed to be an active shooter. However, Richards said Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, describing Rosenbaum as an aggressor and others as part of the “mafia.”
Rittenhouse fired AR-15-style weapons eight times during the riots: four shots at Rosenbaum, who was unarmed; two shots at an unarmed unknown individual who kicked Rittenhouse; one fatal shot at Anthony Huber, who hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard; and one shot at Gaige Grosskreutz, who, according to the prosecution, was holding a gun.
The videos show the last moments
On Wednesday and Thursday, prosecutors aired about a dozen videos showing together what happened before, during and after Rittenhouse killed two men and wounded one in Kenosha.
In particular, the FBI’s new infrared aerial surveillance video provided a unique look at the final moments before the teenager fatally shot Rosenbaum. An infrared video, grainy and shot from an altitude of 8,500 meters, that can be heard, shows Rittenhouse hurrying down the sidewalk and past Rosenbaum standing next to a group of parked cars.
The video shows them stopping and interacting, and Rosenbaum, who was unarmed, starts running towards Rittenhouse, who is armed with a rifle. That’s when 17-year-old Rittenhouse escapes from Rosenbaum before the teenager eventually turns around and shoots him four times, the video shows.
A new FBI aerial video was shown in court during Kenosha police testimony. Martin Howard, chief investigator in the case.
Richards, Rittenhouse’s attorney, claimed Rosenbaum set fire to a Duramax vehicle in the parking lot. Richards claimed Rosenbaum was “hiding” when Rittenhouse arrived in the parking lot, which Howard confirmed.
Videos of the scene, taken by other witnesses, show that Rosenbaum threw a plastic bag at Rittenhouse while hunting, but Rosenbaum was otherwise unarmed. Footage also shows another person firing into the air about 2.5 seconds before Rittenhouse opened fire.
This opening shot was fired by Joshua Ziminski, Howard testified. Rittenhouse then fired four shots at Rosenbaum. Videos show there were three more shots afterwards, but Howard said investigators still don’t know who shot them.
Ziminski, 36, was separately charged with disorderly handling of dangerous weapons, arson and obstruction of a police officer, and pleaded guilty, court documents show. The criminal complaint says he admitted to firing a “warning shot” into the air that night.
Other videos that night from different angles show what happened next. Rittenhouse fled the scene of the shooting and people started chasing him and yelling that he had shot someone. Rittenhouse then fell to the ground and three men confronted him; Rittenhouse fatally shot Huber and Grosskreutz in the arm, videos show.
Ashley Killough, Brad Parks and Amir Vera of CNN contributed to this report.
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