Judge Bruce Schroeder rejected two requests from prosecutors tasked with trying to send 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse to prison for “first-degree murder” on Thursday, prompting a frustrated outburst from an assistant district attorney who learned that his attempt to have an arrest warrant issued for Rittenhouse has failed in spectacular fashion.
Judge Schroeder denied the attempts to prosecutors to have Rittenhouse arrested for changing addresses amidst a slew of violent threats, noting that defendants frequently change addresses during trials.
The judge also refused to give prosecutor’s Rittenhouse’s new address, and shot down their attempt to raise the teenager’s bail by the staggering sum of $2,000.
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger did not take the news well, complaining, “I hope you’re not suggesting sharing this with our office would lead to further violence, we are not the public. We are the prosecuting agency. I have never heard of a situation where the information has been withheld from my office.”
The judge’s ruling dealt a major blow to the prosecution’s desperate bid to have Rittenhouse locked away during the trial, and served for many Rittenhouse advocates as an example of outrageous politically motivated persecution on the part of the Kenosha County’s District Attorney’s office.
Rittenhouse was previously released from jail in November 2020 after supporters rallied to raise the staggering $2 million bail bond required to keep him on the street:
17-year-old volunteer lifeguard Kyle Rittenhouse has been released from jail after supporters raised the staggering $2 million required for cash bail, attorney Lin Wood announced on Twitter Friday afternoon.
Rittenhouse shot three men who attacked him during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin this summer, and video evidence confirms the teen’s defense team’s assessment that he acted in self-defense.
“KYLE RITTENHOUSE IS OUT OF JAIL. God bless ALL who donated to help #FightBack raise required $2M cash bail. Special thanks to Actor Ricky Schroder @rickyshroder1 & Mike Lindell @realMike Lindell for putting us over the top. Kyle is SAFE. Thanks to ALL who helped this boy,” Wood tweeted.
In October 2020, Rittenhouse’s defense team released a documentary that lays out Rittenhouse’s case for self-defense.