As the jury deliberates at the Kenosha County Courthouse, about 500 National Guard troops are on standby. The big fear is a repeat of the violence that the city saw in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake last year.
A man outside the Kyle Rittenhouse trial was spotted carrying an AR-15 rifle, just like the defendant did the night he killed two men during unrest in Kenosha.
The man, who identified himself as “Maserati Mike,” was spoken to by sheriff’s deputies, who told him he could not protest with the rifle.
After speaking with the officers, the man got into a Maserati and left.
Some are concerned that the jurors deliberating Rittenhouse’s fate may feel intimidated by both the accused’s supporters and those calling for a guilty verdict. As the jury deliberates at the Kenosha County Courthouse, about 500 National Guard troops are on standby. The big fear is a repeat of the violence that the city saw in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake last year.
Scott Carpenter owned an office supply store that was burned to the ground during the violence.
“I think we're a little bit calmer this time, praying that we learned our lesson that burning down our town is not the answer, but still a little bit of uneasiness, you're not exactly sure what's going to happen,” he said.
Also outside court Wednesday was Jacob Blake’s uncle Justin.
“We believe they're deliberating using their heart, their soul and their mind to focus on the videos that they saw, and I believe they're going to find this young man was guilty as hell,” he told Inside Edition.
When asked how Blake is doing, Justin said, “Little Jake’s doing great. Mentally, he’s on top of his game. He said, uncle, I’m going to walk by next summer.”
Out of the presence of the jury, Judge Bruce Schroeder on Wednesday defended letting Rittenhouse pick the jurors, a process which some have likened to Bingo.
“I'm now reading about how bizarre and unusual it was to let the defendant pick the numbers out of a tumbler yesterday,” he said.
He said that’s been standard practice in his court for 20 years.
“I’ve had an almost universal policy of having the defendant do the picks,” he said.
