KENOSHA, Wis. (CN) — An expert in the use of force and the mental processes that lead to use-of-force decisions was questioned by the defense and prosecutors on Tuesday in the high-profile case of an 18-year-old charged with shooting three and killing two at a protest last year.
The hearing will likely turn out to be one of the last ahead of the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who is charged with five felonies—including intentional and reckless homicide—for killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, on Aug. 25, 2020, during chaotic protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz were protesting the Black man’s shooting by white police on the night of the incident, while Rittenhouse, then 17, reportedly came to Kenosha from his mom’s house in Antioch, Illinois, to protect life and property at the protests, during which dozens of cars and businesses were torched. Rittenhouse’s defense maintains he shot in self-defense while being chased by a crowd of protesters.
The crux of Tuesday’s hearing centered on the testimony of John Black, an Oregon-based expert for the defense with a doctorate focused on cognitive science and public policy, a more than 30-year military background including special forces and psychological operations work and years of experience instructing both police and civilians in firearms and the use of force.
While well-credentialed in the use of force and firearms from pistols to artillery, Black explained that his expertise relative to Rittenhouse’s case really involves “how people make sense of situations and turn them into decisions.” Use-of-force situations involving police and civilians can be looked at differently to a degree, Black said, but he offered that the first thing he looks at is “how is the human being involved interacting with the event that’s unfolding in front of them.”
Racine-based attorney Mark Richards, a member of Rittenhouse’s defense team, walked Black, who appeared remotely, through the events surrounding the shootings and peppered him with questions to establish chronology and all-important context while Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder listened on.
The events unfolding in front of Rittenhouse on Aug. 25, 2020, were the protest that night and his interactions with individuals at the protest before and during the shootings, of which Black has dissected video evidence and reviewed police reports. The heart of Black’s testimony encouraged thinking about the shootings in the larger context of that night, pointing to “the backdrop of things like riots, crowds, cacophonous noise, violence” taking place.
Based on the context—including that Rittenhouse was not the only one armed with a weapon at the protest, that he was being chased by crowds and individuals that closed in on him at points to possibly do him serious or lethal harm and possibly tried to take away his AR-15, particularly after he shot Rosenbaum—Black considered Rittenhouse’s use of deadly force at the protest to be reasonable.
Video evidence Black reviewed showed members of the crowd closing in on Rittenhouse and putting their hands on his gun, as well as the teenager running down the road after shooting Rosenbaum, falling to the ground and being confronted by individuals who may have kicked him in the face and attacked him with a skateboard amid his shooting, all of which Black said happened “amazingly fast.”
The man with the skateboard, referred to at one point during Tuesday’s hearing as “Skateboard Man,” was Huber, who was shot and killed by Rittenhouse during their confrontation. Black said he could not speak to Huber’s intentions but would not rule out that he intended to use the skateboard to harm Rittenhouse and tried to reach for his gun.
Assistant Kenosha County District Attorney Thomas Binger attempted to complicate the context offered by Black and the defense during questioning, stopping to point out that Rosenbaum was not armed when Rittenhouse shot him, according to the video evidence.
Black noted that Rosenbaum threw something in a plastic bag at Rittenhouse and continued to move toward him with intentionality and appeared to reach for his assault rifle before he was shot, maintaining that Rittenhouse was justified given the totality of the circumstances.
Grosskreutz, who has a concealed-carry permit, was armed with a pistol when he approached Rittenhouse after he shot Huber, and while the parties could not reach a conclusion on what Grosskreutz’s intent was, Black considered the use of force against him reasonable as well. Grosskreutz was shot in the bicep by Rittenhouse but survived.
In other business on Tuesday, Schroeder declined the defense’s request to toss a misdemeanor gun possession charge Rittenhouse faces but left the door open to reconsidering it down the line.
Binger also broached the subject of keeping witnesses’ images from becoming public during the trial, though Schroeder did not seem receptive to that and said it would have to be witness-specific and based on a legitimate security issue to be considered.
The court wrapped the hearing after about four hours before the prosecution could submit its expert witness for questioning. Court records show that questioning and other matters remaining from Tuesday’s evidentiary hearing are scheduled for the afternoon of Oct. 25, one week before Rittenhouse’s trial is slated to start with jury selection on Nov. 1.
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