Disputed drone video among several Rittenhouse jury requests, jurors unaware of motion for mistrial

KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial asked to see several of the evidentiary videos Wednesday, Nov. 17, including the drone video at the crux of the state's provocation argument. It's the same video the defense is citing in a new motion for a mistrial.

The jury should be unaware of the battle over the motion for a mistrial as it focuses on trying to reach a verdict.

Separate from that battle over the quality of the video is the discussion over what the video actually shows. The jury watched it alone Wednesday in the empty courtroom, along with several other videos from the trial.

Both sides argue the video may or may not show Kyle Rittenhouse raising his gun, provoking Joseph Rosenbaum to think he was a threat and chase him. The state argues that provocation eventually led to the shootings.

The jury's first questions of the day came a little before 11 from the deliberation room when jurors asked the court if re-watching video evidence would happen in private or in the courtroom.

Before answering, Judge Bruce Schroeder asked the attorneys from both sides, "Can they freely talk, which is what we want? We want freedom of expression between the jurors as they watch these videos. To me if they want to watch 100 times, that's them."

In the end, the answer was a compromise. Judge Schroeder said, "The jury will come down here to courtroom, and everybody will be shooed out of here as they should be."

.@CBS58 has secured the motion for mistrial from the Kenosha County Circuit Clerk. Here are the sections pertinent to the drone video. It claims "the video provided to the defense was not as clear as the video kept by the state."#KyleRittenhousepic.twitter.com/UJYmlduFjO

— Adam Rife (@AdamRifeReports) November 17, 2021

But then came lengthy debate over how many times the jury could re-watch each video. Prosecutor Thomas Binger said, "I think they should be allowed to view what they want to view as often as they want to view it."

To which Rittenhouse defense attorney Mark Richards said, "Three or four times, I don't have a problem. To sit here and just keep playing it, playing it, playing it, I don't think that's the right way either, then it's giving more emphasis to one piece of evidence."

But the judge countered some evidence is more important than others. He said, "But sometimes there's one piece of evidence which is absolutely critical."

He decided the jury could watch the videos any number of times.

Nearly a dozen videos were requested, including video of the Gaige Grosskreutz shooting, the FBI aerial video that showed Joseph Rosenbaum and Rittenhouse, and six clips from the drone video. The battle over the video's quality and clarity was not mentioned to the jury.

Then everyone cleared the courtroom -including the judge, attorneys, and Kyle Rittenhouse- so the jury could watch.

A clean laptop was loaded with the requested videos and hooked up to the TV in the courtroom. The jury then watched the videos for 46 minutes, according to the pool reporter outside the courtroom.