An expert witness testified during a court hearing Tuesday that he believes Kyle Rittenhouse was justified by defending himself during the Kenosha shootings.
Rittenhouse’s lawyers filed a request with the court for John R. Black, an expert witness, to testify at Rittenhouse’s trial, which is scheduled for November 1.
A Daubert hearing was held Tuesday morning in front of Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to discuss the motion.
Black appeared by Zoom at the in-person hearing, which began at around 10 a.m. and concluded around 2 p.m.
Black said he believes Rittenhouse’s actions on the night of August 25, 2020, meet the Wisconsin statute for self-defense.
The defense and prosecutors both asked Black dozens of questions during the Tuesday hearing.
Schroeder said he would leave the door open to allow Black and an expert witness on the prosecution side to testify at the November 1 trial.
One of Rittenhouse’s attorneys, Corey Chirafisi, briefly argued for the court to consider a motion to have count six โ possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 โ to be dismissed.
Schroeder denied the motion. Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled to continue on October 25.
On September 17, Schroeder denied prosecutors’ request to admit evidence at Rittenhouse’s trial alleging he was associated with the Proud Boys and a video of him allegedly saying he wanted to shoot people.
One of those motions included a video where a person, identified by prosecutors as Rittenhouse, is on the side of a street watching several people leave a CVS Pharmacy.
The motion said that Rittenhouse was watching the group of people leave the CVS while carrying bags and loading them into the trunk of a car. “It looks like one of them has a weapon,” Rittenhouse said, according to the motion.
“Bro, I wish I had my (expletive) AR, Iโd start shooting rounds at them,” Rittenhouse reportedly said in the video, which was taken 15 days before the August 25, 2020 protest and shootings.
“[Rittenhouse] apparently believed, with no actual evidence, that these individuals were shoplifting from the store,” Binger said.
The second motion filed by Binger asked the court to admit evidence showing Rittenhouse is affiliated with the Proud Boys.
Surveillance photos showed Rittenhouse posing for pictures at a Wisconsin bar with the leaders of the Proud Boys organization while flashing their “OK” sign, Binger said.
Schroeder said he had “never heard of the Proud Boys before this case.”
“If I admitted these motions they would get reversed… if there was a conviction. There’s no connection between these two events at all,” Schroeder said in September after ruling against the two motions filed by Binger.
Also in September, Schroeder denied a motion filed by Rittenhouse’s attorney Mark Richards that asked the court to allow evidence at trial showing Joseph Rosenbaum, one of the men killed by Rittenhouse, was a sex offender.
Rittenhouse has maintained that the shootings were self-defense after the three victims attacked him.