Welcome to the Law of Self Defense ongoing coverage of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial! I am, of course, Attorney Andrew Branca, for Law of Self Defense. Good news, the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is finally underway, with voir dire, or jury selection, having begun this morning.
UPDATE: Between when I started writing this post and when it was published, media reports are that individual voir dire completed today off-camera, and opening statements will happen tomorrow morning!
Highlights of today’s voir dire include:
- The defense voir dire suggesting that Kyle Rittenhouse might testify at trial
- Judge Schroeder contextualizing juror security concerns by noting that even judges hardly ever get assassinated
- A juror excused because Second Amendment beliefs would not allow impartiality
- A juror excused because hatred of AR rifles would not allow impartiality
- A juror excused because she understood “Thou shalt not kill” to be literal
- Judge Schroeder instructing jurors on “semi-automatic” versus “machine gun”
- And much, much more! So let’s dive right in!