Kyle Rittenhouse judge bans MSNBC from trial after incident near jury bus
KENOSHA, Wis. — The judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse case banned MSNBC from the courthouse for the duration of the trial Thursday after police suspected one of cable outlet’s freelancers of following the jury bus.
Jurors are bused to the courthouse each day from an undisclosed location in a van with windows covered so they can’t see the protests outside the courthouse. They enter through a private door, which prevents them from having contact with the public upon arrival.
The journalist, who the Chicago Tribune is not naming because he wasn’t charged with a crime, was pulled over Wednesday night for running a red light as he drove about a block behind the jury bus, Kenosha Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder said. The judge said the journalist was told by his boss in New York to follow the bus.
The judge named both the journalist and his alleged boss for the trial’s official transcript.
“This is a very serious matter and I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is,” the judge said.
The journalist was ticketed for running a red light. He had not taken any pictures of the jurors, the judge said.
MSNBC issued a statement to CNN’s Brian Stelter saying the freelance journalist never intended to contact or photograph the jurors.
“Last night, a freelancer received a traffic citation. While the traffic violation took place near the jury van, the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them,” the statement read. “We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with the authorities on any investigation.”
———
