A juror has been dismissed from the Kyle Rittenhouse trial after making a racist joke about Jacob Blake, the man who was shot by Kenosha police last August.
According to CBS Chicago, the juror is a middle-aged white man and allegedly made the joke to a courtroom deputy on the third day of trial.
“Why did it take seven shots to shoot Jacob Blake?” the juror asked the deputy. He then said, “Because they ran out of bullets.”
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger informed Judge Bruce Schroeder of the juror’s distasteful joke, saying it was in “poor taste and showed racial bias.”
Before Thursday’s testimony, the judge asked the juror to repeat the joke but he refused.
Apparently, the juror uses a scooter to move around and seemed to be “ill-at-ease” when he spoke with the judge, saying, “It had nothing to do with the case.”
Schroeder is determined to preserve the public’s confidence in this case and dismissed the juror.
There are now 19 people as jurors, 12 of whom are primary jurors and seven who are alternates.
Rittenhouse is currently on trial for fatally shooting two people and injuring a third amid the civil unrest in Kenosha Wisconsin.
Demonstrators gathered to protest the shooting of Blake, who was shot by police seven times on Aug. 23, 2020. He is now paralyzed because of the shooting.
Rittenhouse claims he traveled to Kenosha to protect businesses during the protests. He was seen walking through the downtown area carrying an assault-style rifle before he opened fire on the third night of protests, killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz.
His attorney says his client was defending himself.
