Unidentified man, calling himself George Floyd’s nephew has caused a stir by sharing a disturbing video about jurors at the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
Cortez Rice — who has previously claimed to be Floyd’s nephew and has been involved in protests — put out a video talking about what appeared to be an effort to take pictures of the jury in the Rittenhouse trial, presumably with the aim of identifying them.
George Floyd’s nephew, Cortez Rice, makes a claim that he knows people taking photos of jurors during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He wants to convict jurors by doxing them. pic.twitter.com/uwLuV2ftfV
— John Curtis (@Johnmcurtis) November 7, 2021
“I ain’t even gonna name the people that I know that’s up…in the Kenosha trial,” Rice said in the video. “But it’s cameras in there. It’s definitely cameras up in there. There’s definitely people taking pictures of the jurors and everything like that. We know what’s going on, so we need the same results, man. Justice for Daunte. Justice for…”
Rice participated in another protest at the residence of a judge, who had previously ruled against the use of cameras in courtrooms in case Daunte Wayne Wright was being tried. Daunte died in an attack by a Brooklyn Center officer. It’s not clear that they even got the right house.
They also stated that this “protest” was a “trial run” and that they would be there again to ruin their “white privilege dinner” unless they got what the wantedpic.twitter.com/RaGVEDa5TO
— AntifaWatch (@AntifaWatch2) November 7, 2021
That case was ruled against audio and video coverage, angering the people protesting.
Julio Rosas, who works for our sister Townhall publication, has been on the ground covering the Rittenhouse trial and he says he hasn’t observed anyone taking pictures of the jury, but he notes that’s an obvious concern, if true, that needs to be investigated.
While I did not witness any such activity in courtroom Friday, it is something that needs to be examined as possible jurors Monday stated they were worried about their safety and their identity being revealed. This is not a joke, but he could have been talking big via social media. https://t.co/qjeMuG3JWs
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) November 7, 2021
Rosas stated that the jury was worried about their identities being disclosed.
Even if they are not actually trying to do any harm, this kind of behavior can affect the jury. A jury could feel threatened if it feels they’re being threatened. The jury in this case is not sequestered, although obviously they’ve no doubt been advised not to listen to anything having to do with the case.
We’ve already seen that the trial hasn’t been going well for the prosecution, with the prosecution alleging in opening statements that Rittenhouse was chasing Joseph Rosenbaum when it was the other way around. Then, the prosecution witnesses provided evidence that basically imploded the prosecution’s case and gave more support for self-defense on the part of Rittenhouse.
So it’s very likely that if the jury is looking at this honestly, there will be an acquittal. But if we hope to preserve that right to a fair trial we have to protect their ability to render a fair verdict and make sure that there aren’t any efforts to influence or threaten them. When they are forced to confront not just the facts but also potential threats to their communities and themselves, this is problematic.
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