A second juror has been dismissed for pregnancy issues and prosecutors called multiple witnesses Friday during day five of Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial.
Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce E. Schroeder said he granted a pregnant juror’s request to be excused because she was experiencing “mild discomfort.”
Neither prosecutors nor the defense objected to juror #27’s dismissal.
Another juror was dismissed on Thursday for making a joke to a deputy about the officer-involved shooting of Jacob Blake. A total of 18 jurors remain.
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger called Jason Lackowski to the stand.
Lackowski said he is currently a full-time student and he resided in Brown Deer, Wisconsin in August 2020. He currently resides in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Lackowski was a former infantry rifleman for the U.S. Marine Corps from 2011 to 2015.
Lackowski said he met Ryan Balch, the army veteran who testified Thursday about going to the unrest in Kenosha.
Lackowski testified he went to Kenosha on August 25, 2020, to help protect property with Balch.
Lackowski said he was armed with an AR-15 and was trained to “shout, shove, show, shoot.”
He described Joseph Rosenbaum, the first person Rittenhouse shot, as a “babbling idiot.”
He said Rosenbaum was “false stepping” and acting “very belligerently.” However, he testified that he did not consider Rosenbaum a threat.
After Rittenhouse shot Gaige Grosskreutz, the third person he shot that night, Lackowski applied a tourniquet to Grosskreutz and stayed with him until police arrived.
Lackowski said there was a Glock pistol on the ground near Grosskreutz. He secured and cleared the firearm by dropping the magazine and emptying the chamber.
Lackowski said that pistol was the same one Grosskreutz had in his right hand when he was approaching Rittenhouse.
He testified that there were rounds in the magazine and in the chamber when he cleared it.
While being cross-examined by Corey Chirafisi, one of Rittenhouse’s attorneys, Lackowski said Rittenhouse was not being aggressive to anyone that night.
Lackowski further testified that Joseph Rosenbaum was one of the most aggressive people he encountered that night.
Amber Rasmussen, a DNA analyst for the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories, was called to the stand after Lackowski.
Rasmussen testified that no DNA from Rosenbaum or Anthony Huber, the second person Rittenhouse shot, was found on Rittenhouse’s rifle.
However, there is “no way of determining” if Rosenbaum touched the barrel of Rittenhouse’s rifle because she received no swabs from the barrel itself, Rasmussen said.
She also said that not finding DNA on the rifle does not mean it was not touched.
“Whether DNA was detected from an individual or not does not mean that they did not touch that item,” she said.
When shown photos, Rasmussen testified that it appeared Huber was touching Rittenhouse’s rifle.
After Rasmussen’s testimony, Susan Hughes, Huber’s great-aunt, was called to the stand.
On the day of the shooting, Hughes said she gave money to Huber later in the afternoon to resolve a cell phone problem and she reminded him to be back in town before curfew.
After Hughes testimony, Kariann Swart, Rosenbaum’s fiancee, was called to the stand.
Swart said she told Rosenbaum not to go to downtown Kenosha.
Swart testified that Rosenbaum took medication to help with bipolar disorder the same day Rittenhouse fatally shot him.
She said Rosenbaum also took an anti-depressant.
Prosecutors then called Sahil Khindri to the stand, a former Car Source employee until 2015. Khindri’s family owns Car Source in Kenosha.
Anmol Khindri, Sahil’s brother, was also called to the stand. Anmol works at Car Source, which is owned by his father.
Both brothers met Rittenhouse and his group that night. They said they did not talk to anyone about protecting their property.
Kenosha police officers Erich Weidner, Jeffrey Van Wie and Pep Moretti were called to the stand after the Khindri brothers testified.
Weidner processed evidence at the shooting scene of Rosenbaum. Van Wie processed evidence from Rittenhouse’s rifle, like taking the swabs.
Moretti was the officer in the squad car that Rittenhouse approached with his hands up.
Video, which previously went viral on social media, showed officers ignoring Rittenhouse and letting him leave the scene moments after he shot the three men on August 25, 2020.
Moretti’s partner gave Rittenhouse commands to get out of the road while they were responding to the gunfire.
Moretti testified that he was not sure what Rittenhouse was doing in the roadway and did not think the teen was involved in the shooting.
Moretti claimed he nor his partner heard people yelling that Rittenhouse was the shooter.
“I’ve never in my career had somebody put their hands up and continue to advance and disobey orders from us to not advance,” Moretti said.