During the Kyle Rittenhouse's trial, a judge removed a juror who made a joke with the courtroom deputy about the shooting of Jacob Blake, CBS Chicago reports.

In Aug. 2020, then 17-year-old Rittenhouse shot and killed two people during a protest for Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Blake was shot in the back seven times in front of his four children during a scuffle with a white police officer. He survived the shooting, but was left paralyzed, as Blavity previously reported. Kenosha’s county prosecutor did not charge the officer for misconduct.

Prosecutors said the juror asked the deputy, “Why did the Kenosha Police shoot Jacob Blake seven times? Because they ran out of bullets.”

Judge Bruce Schroeder, who began his career as a circuit judge in 1983, asked the juror to repeat the offensive joke. However, after the juror refused to comply, he was then removed from all trial duties.

Rittenhouse's trial is set to be one of the biggest cases in Schroeder’s career. Therefore, he’s left with the task of maintaining confidence in the case for the public and the victim’s family.

With the dismissal of one juror, the verdict will rest on the shoulders of a 19-person jury for the trial: 12 primary jurors and seven alternates.

Schroeder said that media coverage may have misled jurors, given that the shooting took place during an election.

"This case has become very political,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “It was involved in the politics of the last election year. … You could go out now and read things from all across the political spectrum about this case, most of which is written by people who know nothing. I don’t mean that they are know-nothings."

At the time of the protest last year, Rittenhouse walked among the protesters carrying a military-style semi automatic rifle. He later fired rounds at civilians attempting to disarm him.

Multiple demonstrators were able to provide footage chronicling the horrific moment that that took the lives of two people and wounded another civilian. Rittenhouse, who was later arrested, claimed self-defense against his attackers, according to U.S. News.

He now faces seven charges, according to Reuters, including possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 and first-degree reckless homicide.

The trial started on Monday and if convicted, Rittenhouse could face life in prison and up to $200 in forfeitures, Time reports.

Kenosha

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