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Kyle Rittenhouse Judge Gives Impromptu Sermon On Biblical Hearsay

Really, dude?

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When judges are described as “colorful,” it’s usually not a reference to their sartorial choices. And indeed Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder is a colorful guy, in the sense in which that word is colloquially understood. Which is to say, he’s a little bit crazy.

So it wasn’t exactly surprising that he launched into this bizarro rant yesterday on the subject of hearsay in the time of the New Testament.

As flagged by Law & Crime, the judge was pontificating on the hearsay rule for the benefit of the jury, who was present during an evidentiary dispute about a video of the shooting. At issue was a voice over by the person recording it, and whether the entire exhibit should be muted, including the portions where the defendant was speaking, or just the parts where the videographer described what he was seeing.

This is actually referred to in the Bible. Saint Paul, when he was put on trial in I think it’s Caesarea — well, it was over in Palestine — uh, in Israel — he was accused of some activity. And he was a Roman citizen, which was not common, but he happened to have been a Roman citizen.  So,\ he had rights that we share now as Americans.  And when they tried to put him on trial with evidence which was being repeated by somebody who wasn’t there and under oath, he said, “where are the witnesses against me?  I am a Roman, and I have a right to confront my accusers.  They should be here.”  And so that led to, actually, his voyage to Rome to have his case heard before the Emperor.  So it’s an ancient rule. It’s strictly, strictly enforced in the criminal courts for very obvious reasons.

Perhaps if this were the only off note sounded in this case, it could be written off as a quirky, professorial digression. But Judge Schroeder already made headlines by refusing to allow prosecutors to refer to the men Rittenhouse killed as “victims,” while permitting the defense to call them “rioters,” “looters,” and “arsonists.”

The judge also lost his shit yesterday and launched into a tangent about CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin — and not for his terrible Zoom habits, either.

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Presiding over the high-profile case has brought attention to Judge Schroeder’s previous colorful record, including a 2018 shoplifting case in which the judge ordered the defendant to inform the manager of any store she patronized of the conviction. That part of the sentence was overturned.

In fact, Judge Schroeder earned such a reputation for erratic sentencing that at one point in 2006 the list of defendants requesting to have their cases transferred to another judge was 250 people long. And the AP reports that he continues to be a weirdo in the instant suit.

Schroeder finally began jury selection with a story about the war in Vietnam, comparing jury duty to being drafted, saying no one would be excused for minor reasons. He then asked for a round of applause for any veterans present.

[Defense attorney Michael] Cicchini said Schroeder traditionally gives brief speeches about the history of trials to impress upon jurors the importance of their task. On Monday, he referenced the fall of Rome when explaining the system’s evolution.

“When Rome fell, the world changed dramatically,” the judge said, before launching into more history about how cases were decided more than 2,000 years ago. He spoke of priests blessing trials in which defendants had to place their hands on burning coals or in boiling water — if they “didn’t come out too badly,” that was a sign from God of their innocence.

Cool, cool. Luckily this isn’t a case where each side will be picking apart every syllable of the transcript looking for an appealable error.

Judge starts Rittenhouse trial with trivia and lectures [AP]
It’s ‘Actually’ in ‘the Bible’: Kyle Rittenhouse’s Judge Explains Hearsay Rule to Jury by Talking About Trials of St. Paul the Apostle [Law & Crime]

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Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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