MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) – A judge will hold a hearing next week on the possibility of arresting or increasing bail for an 18-year-old from Illinois accused of opening fire during a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin, after he allegedly has not updated its address with the court.
Judge Bruce Schroeder set up a hearing on Thursday afternoon for Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of shooting Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz, killing Rosenbaum and Huber and injuring Grosskreutz during protests in Kenosha in August.
The demonstrations began after a white policeman shot Jacob Blake, a black man, in the back. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, says the protesters attacked him and he shot self-defense.
Prosecutors allege that Rittenhouse moved out of Antioch, Illinois, an apartment he shared with his mother after paying $ 2 million bail in November. and did not give the court his new address. They filed a motion this week asking Schroeder to issue an arrest warrant for Rittenhouse and increase his bail by $ 200,000.
Rittenhouse’s lawyers have contested that Rittenhouse has received threats and moved to an “undisclosed secret house” after he left prison. They said in lawsuits that they offered to reveal the address if prosecutors kept it a secret, but prosecutor Thomas Binger declined, saying the address is public.
They included an address in the files along with a request for Schroeder to keep it sealed, but Binger replied that it was just a PO box and did not meet Rittenhouse’s bail conditions.
Rittenhouse, who is white, traveled to Kenosha on August 25, after a paramilitary group called on social media for people to protect businesses in the midst of unrest. He faces several charges, including murder and minor possession of a firearm.
Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement painted Rittenhouse as a white supremacist on the trigger. Conservatives upset about the destruction of property during some protests against police brutality last summer portrayed him as a patriot exercising his right to bear arms and raised the $ 2 million that Rittenhouse needed to get out of prison.
Rittenhouse fired John Pierce, the Los Angeles attorney who led the fundraising effort, on Monday.
Pierce withdrew from the criminal case in December after prosecutors claimed he has his own “significant financial difficulties” and should not be allowed to raise money for Rittenhouse. He continued as Rittenhouse’s attorney in civil matters, leaving the criminal case to attorney Mark Richards.
Pierce confirmed that he and Rittenhouse broke up, tweeting that he fought “every fiber” of his being for Rittenhouse.
Rittenhouse’s supporters tweeted on his FreeKyleUSA account on Thursday that Rittenhouse fired Pierce on Monday and that he hired another Los Angeles lawyer, Robert Barnes.
Pierce tweeted that he struggled with “every fiber” of his being for Rittenhouse. Barnes tweeted that he was “happy to join the #KyleRittenhouse team”.
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Followed Todd Richmond on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trichmond1