Thread by @Johnmcurtis

The Kyle Rittenhouse case is underway.

Day 5

Yesterday I ran a brief poll asking if Kyle Rittenhouse should take the stand and testify during trial.

The results are in.

Today is “Day 4” of the actual trial. I began threading daily coverage of the proceedings on Nov 1, which I referenced as “Day 1”, however that day encompassed jury selection only. So for the purpose of my daily threads I continued and am now on “Day 5”.

A female juror, Juror #27, was dismissed this morning at her request. She stated that she had an illness. Another juror wrote a question to the judge and it was not read or answered.

The State called Jason Lackowski to the stand. Lackowski was another armed civilian protecting property during the night of August 25, 2020.

While on the stand Lackowski referenced “troublemakers” in the crowds of legitimate protesters as being “a-holes”. Judge Schroeder reminded Lackowski that he is in court.

Lackowski’s time in the hot seat was mostly uneventful and didn’t provide any damning evidence for either side. However during final exchange of recross Binger appeared to again signal a witness to provide a certain answer by shaking his head.

The prosecution next called Amber Rasmussen to the stand. She is a DNA analyst for the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory.

Rasmussen testified that Rittenhouse’s DNA was found on all of the test swabs sent to the crime lab. The swabs collected were swabbed only on certain portions of his rifle. Rosenbaum and Huber’s DNA were not present although photographic evidence proves they both touched the gun.

The prosecution calls Susan Hughes. Hughes is the great aunt of Anthony Huber, who was the second person who attacked Kyle Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse shot and killed him.

While Hughes was on the stand the prosecution attempted to use her testimony to portray Anthony Huber’s character as exemplary and heroic, to which the defense objected. Judge Schroeder sent the jury to lunch and the issue was argued before the court.

The prosecution claimed amongst other things that Anthony Huber was a hero. After arguments judge Schroeder said that he would consider the issue while on break for lunch.

After returning, judge Schroeder stated that he was going to side with the State and allow them to questions Huber’s great aunt in regards to his character. However he stipulated that the defense would in turn also bring to light some major character flaws of his as well.

The defense describes Anthony Huber attacking his brother with a knife and threatening to kill his entire family and did so because his brother wouldn’t clean a room.

In another instance Anthony Huber kicked his sister in the hip, which caused her to fall into a dog crate, injuring her.

Ultimately the State chose to withdraw the line of questioning to prevent the jury from hearing about Anthony Huber’s violent tendencies.

The State called Kariann Swart to the stand. Swart is the former fiancé of Joseph Rosenbaum, the first person to attack Kyle Rittenhouse.

After a brief back and forth with judge Schroeder while the jury was waiting in the library, the defense was permitted to question Swart about the medications Joseph Rosenbaum was taking.

She confirmed that Rosenbaum was being treated for bipolar disorder.

The State called Sahil Khindri to the stand. Khindri’s father owns the Car Source lots that Kyle Rittenhouse and other armed individuals were guarding the night of August 25, 2020.

The prosecution appears have confused Sahil, who goes by the name Sal, and his brother Anmol, who goes by the name Sam.

The prosecution was of the belief that the man pictured to the far left in this photo, was Anmol (Sam). In reality it was Sahil (Sal), who suggested he wanted to take the photo because he thought the military type gear was cool.

Sal claimed that he did not know anyone in the photo, nor did he give permission for the group to protect the dealer lots. He went on to say that he believed they needed to speak with his brother Anmol (Sam).

During reexamination Binger produced this text message sent from Kyle to Anmol (Sam). Sahil stated that his brother showed the text to him on August 27, 2020.

The State called Anmol (Sam) Khindri to the stand. He is the manager of the Car Source locations in Kenosha.

Anmol claims that he did not know Kyle Rittenhouse nor did he ask him or give him permission to guard any of the Car Source locations. He claims that he didn’t speak with anyone on August 25th about guarding or protecting Car Source locations.

Anmol stated that he did not provide keys to any of the Car Source locations to anyone. He also stated again that he didn’t pay anyone to guard the locations.

Anmol stated again that he didn’t ask anyone or give permission to anyone to guard the Car Source locations and that he only learned of the armed individuals guarding the lots the next day.

The State called Kenosha Officer Erich Weidner to the stand.

The prosecution used Officer Weidner testimony to describe the collection of evidence from the scene. During cross examination Officer Weidner was questioned about Joseph Rosenbaum’s “hospital bag” which was never recovered, and a fire extinguisher.

The State called Kenosha Officer Jeffery VanWie to the stand.

Officer VanWie described how he processed the evidence that was collected, including the process in which he swabbed Kyle Rittenhouse’s rife. Defense questioned if Detective Antaramian directed VanWie where to swab. VanWie claimed the portions swabbed are always the same.

The State called Officer Pep Moretti to the stand.

Officer Moretti described the moment that Kyle Rittenhouse approached his car while attempting to surrender to police. The officer claimed that he drew his weapon and pointed it at Kyle while his partner pepper sprayed him. He also described the area as being a war zone.

Officer Moretti also stated that Kyle did not appear to be surrendering and claimed that people that are surrendering typically lay in a prone position.

Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi “To be fair in hindsight… he was surrendering”

Officer Moretti “that’s quite possible”

And court is adjourned for the day.