MSNBC booted from Kyle Rittenhouse trial after a producer was arrested for tailing the jury.

 

Judge Bruce Schroeder. The Federalist. 

MSNBC has been banned from filming the Kyle Rittenhouse trial after a producers was arrested for blowing a red light while tailing a bus that the jury was on. The Federalist. The jury is in deliberations for the case and are taken home in a blacked out bus everyday. The producer, James J. Morrison, was described by Kenosha police as following the bus and was pulled over after blowing a red light. He was cited for the traffic violation and released. However, police believe that he was trying to photograph the jurors. NBC News confirmed the details of the case but argued that Morrison had never intended to take any photographs, raising the question as to why they would have Morrison follow the jury in the first place. Judge Schroeder called the incident very serious as he banned the new outlet from the trial. 

Judge: "A person who identified as James Jim Morrison and claimed that he was a producer with NBC News, MSNBC under the supervision of someone named Irene Byon" was pulled over for following the bus of Kyle Rittenhouse jurors last night.

Judge bans MSNBC from courthouse pic.twitter.com/PQ6RPCdDtz

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 18, 2021

My Comment:

I was hoping I would be posting about the verdict in the Rittenhouse trial at this point but jury deliberations are taking much longer than expected. Indeed, it's actions like MSNBC's here that appear to be the reason. From what I understand there are rumors that the holdouts in the case are worried about retribution which is why they haven't come back with a not guilty verdict. I am sure we will find out if that is true or not soon enough. 

Regardless, MSNBC and the media in general look terrible here. Even if the explanation given for these actions is true, that the media is just trying to get the jurors information so they can interview them after the trial, it's really scummy and could potentially damage the integrity of this trial. The jurors have to now be aware that, at the very least, people are following them home and it's not clear how much they know about the reasons why.

But I honestly doubt that MSNBC was acting, well, not in good faith, but within the normal bounds of scummy media behavior. I think they were trying to influence the outcome of this trial. It seems very clear that they wanted to send a message to these jurors. We know where you live and know who you are. Find Rittenhouse guilty regardless of the evidence or else. 

Can we prove that is what happened? Not yet. Indeed, it would take the communications between the MSNBC reporter, Irene Byon and this freelance producer, James Morrison. The good news is that if/when Rittenhouse is acquitted he is almost certainly going to sue MSNBC to find out. This goes beyond liable and it seems pretty obvious that the media was directly trying to harm Kyle Rittenhouse. 

I also have to point out that even if the slightly less disgusting explanation is true, the fact of the matter is that MSNBC knew or should have known how their actions would be taken. It was widely reported on Twitter that the case was deadlocked because of fear of retribution. Regardless if that is true or not (I tend to believe it but you never really know)

Either way, this trial has gone on for way too long. I think the judge should have declared a mistrial at least a dozen times as they prosecutors were totally out of control. Along with the media intimidation and the fact that nobody has cleared out antifa and BLM from the courthouse I am certain that Kyle Rittenhouse is not getting a fair trial.