For some reason, and I’m not sure we will ever understand why, a juror in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial decided he had jokes. And here’s the sad thing, his comedic moment was about the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Why did it take seven shots to shoot Jacob Blake?
Because they ran out of bullets.
The juror told this “joke” to a deputy while being escorted to his car, according to Judge Bruce Schroeder, who is presiding over the case, CNN reports.
Naturally, literally no one was laughing.
Blake, who is Black, was left paralyzed after he was shot in the back seven times, in front of his children, by white Kenosha, Wisconsin officer Rusten Sheskey last August. This shooting sparked numerous protests including the one that Kyle Rittenhouse traveled to from Antioch, Illinois.
Rittenhouse now stands trial for killing two protestors and injuring another. He is charged with reckless homicide, intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide.
The juror was taken before the judge for questioning before his dismissal.
From CNN:
The judge called the juror into court for questioning. The juror affirmed he told the joke but declined to repeat it. The juror, a middle-aged man, looked ill-at-ease, fumbling to hold a portable microphone and speaking through a multi-colored face mask, according to a pool reporter in court.
“My feelings is, it was nothing to do with the case. It was nothing to do with Kyle and his charges,” the juror told the judge.
Both the defense and the prosecution agreed to dismiss the juror, and the judge admonished him while doing so.
“It is clear that the appearance to bias is present and it would seriously undermine the outcome of the case,” Schroeder said.
Now, there are 19 jurors which will still be narrowed down to 12 for deliberations in the case.
Blake’s family was outside of the courtroom on Thursday and agreed with the juror’s dismissal.
“It’s unconscionable that the jury was picked in one day. This clearly shows there was a flaw in that, trying to be in such a rush,” said Blake’s uncle, Justin Blake, according to NBC. The jury was selected in one day without a preliminary questionnaire, CNN reports.
What’s even more unconscionable is that someone would even think to make such a sick and disturbing joke in the first place, let alone to a court officer.