A judge denied a request to issue an arrest warrant and increase bail against Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with killing two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last summer.
The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office requested the court increase Rittenhouse’s bail by $200,000 last week after Rittenhouse, 18, violated the conditions of his bond by failing to notify the court of his changed address. The teenager’s defense attorneys argued that Rittenhouse had to be moved for his own safety after threats were made against him.
Judge Bruce Schroeder ordered that Rittenhouse’s home address be given to the court and kept from the public record, but denied the prosecutor’s requests to also be provided the address.
“After what this town has been through in the last six months, I don’t want any more problems,” Schroeder said. “The police don’t need any more problems. We don’t need to have people’s safety in jeopardy in any way. So I think that the desire that the… defendant’s address be kept from public scrutiny is a legitimate one.”
Mark Richards, an attorney for Rittenhouse, filed a response to the motion, alleging that the defense team asked that the teenager’s change of address be placed under a sealed filing, and that prosecutors refused. Thomas Binger, the assistant district attorney on the case, told the judge that it was Richard’s responsibility to file a motion for a sealed filing.
Rittenhouse is accused of killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, when he traveled to Wisconsin last year to guard a car dealership during the protests that took place after the shooting of Jacob Blake on Aug. 23.
John Huber, whose son is one of Rittenhouse’s alleged victims, spoke in support of the prosecutor’s request to increase the bail against the teenager. Huber told the judge that while he lost a son, Rittenhouse is out free to “live it up.”
“From the moment he became a killer, he thought he was above the law. He has no remorse,” Huber said. “And he’s enjoying the media circus and support from these hate groups and militia members that have posted his bond.”
Rittenhouse was released from the Kenosha County Jail on a $2 million bond in November with donations made to his legal defense fund, largely from right-wing activists and conservative celebrities.
Prosecutors argued in their request for Rittenhouse’s bail to be increased that the teenager had no incentives to abide by the conditions of his release because he had not put forth any of his own money, resulting in a careless attitude about his bond.
A judge approved new conditions on Rittenhouse’s bond on Jan. 22, after he was spotted at a bar. The district attorney’s office filed a motion after Rittenhouse was spotted with his mother at a bar in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, on Jan. 5, the same day he pleaded not guilty.
Rittenhouse was photographed in a shirt that read “Free as F***,” while flashing the “OK” sign — a gesture that has been co-opted by known white supremacist groups, the motion said. He was seen consuming alcohol while being serenaded by a group of men who sang the Proud Boys’ anthem, according to the motion.
The state of Wisconsin allows those under age 21 to drink alcohol if they are with a parent, although it is illegal in Illinois, where Rittenhouse was living.
Rittenhouse is barred from drinking alcohol and prohibited from associating with any group or person known to menace others on the basis of things like race or religion. He also can’t have any weapons.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
