looking at this case and try and relate it to gun rights. try and relate it to limiting the trial to self-defense even though we talked about legal experts, grassroots organizations, people that have been monitoring this trial, they would say this case also did expose some fault lines in the self-defense argument and what it means to defend yourself, who has the privilege to defend yourself when who we see as a threat in this country is in part shaped by race as well. look, it s also going to raise questions for the biden administration. as we were saying, there was momentum building up, especially after last summer, for things like police accountability but also for gun reform and those are issues that have been side lined as this administration has focused on the social spending package as well as infrastructure as well. there will be questions after these cases as well of what is
orientation and he did nothing once criticism surfaced to try to reinforce the fairness of the proceedings. in many ways, it seemed like he simply doubled down and stayed on his path. okay, so in addition to that, there were two things the case really came down to. first, did rittenhouse act in self-defense, and two, did he provoke rosenbaum and huber before he shot and killed them? so, how difficult do you think it was for the prosecution to argue their case? do you think prosecutors were handcuffed at all by wisconsin state laws? well, look, it s important to say, alex, that the law in every state is different, so wisconsin law obviously isn t binding in other states. but that said, prosecutors here handle these kind of cases all the time within the structure of their laws. the real problem that prosecutors faced here was having a witness on the witness stand make out the self-defense argument for kyle rittenhouse when one of the victims acknowledged that he had had a
those interactions as perhaps having affected the jury, if at all? well, a number of those interactions happened outside the presence of the jury, but to the extent that the jury was witnessing it, it certainly did not help the prosecution. and i think the judge made clear his views on the case, including by dismissing two charges in a way that could have signaled to the jury. now, we know from the questions that the jury asked, that themp very focused on self-defense in this case. so i think, actually, the star player was not necessarily the judge, but kyle rittenhouse himself when he took the stand to describe what he believed was happening in his own words. there was also another moment that seems like it was, again, in light of what we now know is this acquittal, potentially pivotal here, as it relates to the self-defense argument that the defense was trying to make. and that is when giage grosskreutz, who had been hurt
for his unusual style playing jeopardy with jurors during courtroom down time and referencing the bible during a hearsay objection in court. this is actually referred to in the bible, st. paul when he was put on trial. okay. adrian brodis. thank you. i ll bring in ellie. thank you so much. good evening to you. i want to start with the video that jurors saw that shows another person firing a gunshot in the air just seconds before rittenhouse fatally shot rosenbomb. they are trying to use that in the self-defense argument. do you think that will be effective? it could be, don. the key concept here is reasonableness. was kyle rittenhouse in reasonable belief that his life was in immediate danger? if so, under wisconsin self-defense law he was entitled to use lethal force to shoot somebody. look, it s better for kyle
after he was attacked. the other individuals who didn t see that shooting attacked him in the street like an animal. reporter: outside of testimony, judge bruce shrader is in the spotlight for his unusual style. good thing we have the jeopardy game to practice. reporter: playing jeopardy with jurors during courtroom down time and referencing the bible during a hearsay objection in court. this is actually referred to in the bible, st. paul when he was put on trial. okay. ed a dreeian aid dreeian, thank you very much. good evening to you. i want to start with the video that jurors saw that shows another person firing a gunshot in the air just seconds before rittenhouse fatally shot rosenbaum. rittenhouse s legal team clearly trying to use that in their self-defense argument. do you think that will be effective? it could be, don. the key concept here is