The judge presiding over Kyle Rittenhouse’s homicide trial opened jury selection Monday with a round of \u201cJeopardy!\u201d-like trivia, assured potential jurors he doesn’t have COVID-19 and reached back to the fall of the Roman Empire to emphasize the gravity of their duty.<\/b>
\nMADISON, Wis. \u2014 The judge presiding over Kyle Rittenhouse\u2019s homicide trial opened jury selection Monday with a round of \u201cJeopardy!\u201d-like trivia, assured potential jurors he doesn\u2019t have COVID-19 and reached back to the fall of the Roman Empire to emphasize the gravity of their duty. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder drew laughs in the courtroom \u2014 and some cringes on social media \u2014 as he peppered potential jurors with trivia questions, and offered commentary on some. When the answer to one was the movie \u201cPsycho,\u201d the 75-year-old Schroeder quipped: \u201cYou\u2019ve heard of it.\u201d One potential juror told Schroeder he had nasal surgery scheduled in 10 days. The judge asked him, \u201cWhat would you rather do, be here with me or have your nose operated on?\u201d The man responded: \u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you, I\u2019m not looking forward to it.\u201d The judge laughed and said he would take it under consideration. The tenor of Monday\u2019s hearing was no surprise to one attorney who has appeared before Schroeder. Michael Cicchini, a Kenosha-based defense attorney, said the beginning of jury selection can be \u201ca logistical nightmare.\u201d Attorneys are handed seating charts and other paperwork as jurors are led in, and they need time to get organized. Schroeder traditionally spends that time playing trivia with the jury pool until the attorneys are ready, he said. Schroeder is presiding over one of the biggest trials of his career. Rittenhouse,18, of Antioch, Ill., shot three people during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020. The protests began after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back during a domestic disturbance. Blake had been fighting with officers and had a knife; the county prosecutor later declined to charge the officer. Rittenhouse has said he traveled to Kenosha to protect businesses from looting and arson. Two of the men he shot, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, died of their wounds. Rittenhouse also shot and wounded a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse contends he fired in self-defense and conservatives nationwide have rallied behind him, holding him up as a bulwark against chaotic protesters and a symbol of gun rights. Others, including liberals and activists, portray him as a domestic terrorist, saying he made a volatile situation worse by showing up with a gun.<\/p>\n