Jury selection begins in Kenosha shooting trial

The search is underway for 20 jurors to hear the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, who faces homicide charges related to protests that turned deadly in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020. Rittenhouse claims he was acting in self-defense when he shot three protesters, killing two of them. The teen drove from his Illinois home to Kenosha after protests broke out in the city over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse picked up a semiautomatic rifle from a friend and both went downtown allegedly to protect a local business.

How is the trial going so far? Last week, Judge Bruce Schroeder instructed lawyers not to call the protesters victims. Schroeder has routinely banned the term in his courtrooms because he said it biases the jury. He said prosecutors and defense attorneys may refer to the individuals involved as “rioters,” “arsonists,” or “looters.” Schroeder reminded prospective jurors that the trial is not political, and he does not plan to sequester the jury.

Dig deeper: Read Anna Johansen Brown’s firsthand report about the effect of the protests in Kenosha.

—WORLD has corrected this Sift to reflect that Kyle Rittenhouse obtained a semiautomatic rifle only after arriving in Kenosha.