Judge Bruce Schroeder has banned MSNBC from the Kenosha County Courthouse following an incident where an employee allegedly followed the bus with the jurors. It is difficult to express how moronic such a decision would be for a network. (For the record, I once worked for NBC/MSNBC as a legal analyst. I have also worked for CBS, BBC, and currently Fox). Update: NBC issued a statement below.
Judge Schroeder stated in court:
“Last evening a person who identified himself as James J. Morrison and who claimed that he was a producer with NBC News… and under the supervision of someone… in New York for MSNBC. The police when they stopped him because he was following in the distance of about a block and went through a red light, pulled him over and inquired of him what was going on and he gave that information. He stated he had been instructed by [a supervisor] in New York to follow the jury bus.”
He then added
“I have instructed that no one from MSNBC news will be permitted in this building for the duration of this trial. This is a very serious matter and I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is, but absolutely it would go without much thinking that someone who is following the jury bus – that is an extremely serious matter and will be referred to the proper authorities for further action.”
The seriousness of this incident cannot be overstated, if true. It is not simply because the police thought MSNBC may have been trying to take their pictures. If the jurors believed that they were being followed, let alone photographed, it could add to their unease about voting in the case.
Cortez Rice, who is a BLM activist in Minnesota, was previously shown in a videotape saying that the jurors were being videotaped:
Being followed can add an intimidating element for a jury in a city that was previously subject to extensive violence and rioting.
The optics are particularly bad for MSNBC given the network’s criticism of the trial. MSNBC host Tiffany Cross advocated for Schroeder’s removal and called on columnist Elie Mystal to discuss the matter. Mystal, who stated earlier this month that white, non-college-educated voters supported Republicans in the 2021 races in part because they care about “using their guns on Black people and getting away with it,” not surprisingly, has written that this trial is a sham.
MSNBC’s host Joy Reid also attacked the trial and suggested that Rittenhouse’s emotional breakdown on the stand was fraudulent. Her guest, MSNBC legal analyst and Georgetown law professor Paul Butler, concurred and called it “the greatest performance of (his) life.” Butler called the trial “white supremacy on steroids.”
Reid added Wednesday, “If you want to know why critical race theory exists, the actual law school theory that emphasizes that supposedly colorblind laws in America often still have racially discriminatory outcomes, then look no further than the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.”
Others at the networks have called the trial a travesty and rigged process.
MSNBC has not responded to the allegation.
Update: NBC released a statement:
“Last night, a freelancer received a traffic citation. While the traffic violation took place near the jury van, the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them. We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with the authorities on any investigation.”
NBC’s statement is confusing in one respect in starting with “while the traffic violation took place near the jury van.” That suggests that it was a coincidence that the traffic accident occurred near the jury van. The question is whether the freelancer was instructed by NBC to follow the jury bus. That should be easy to deny if it is untrue.
Finally, the fact that he is a freelancer is immaterial. News organizations commonly use freelancers for a host of different positions. When they are working for a network, they are agents of that network. Again, NBC is ambiguous. It goes out of its way to note that this person is a freelancer but not whether he was working freelance for NBC at the time.
I felt embarrassed for Wolf Blitzer when even he used the term “The Big Lie”.
Your fellow free people can be more tyrannical and oppressive than the government.
Looks to me like MSNBC was trying to doxx the jury so as to kill a few, burn down their homes, terrorize the jury so as to prolong the story.
I wonder if the MSNBC reporter (even if he was free lance, he is/was being paid by MSNBC) actions may have forced the end of the juries deliberations and for them to acquit.
Logic being, they keep deliberating, next time, someone just might get that video, pictures, learn where jurors live.
It seems as if it may be even worse for MSNBC than originally stated. It has been said that it wasn’t just that the NBC van was stopped for a “traffic violation”, but instead it was stopped because it went through a red light trying to keep up with the jury van.
If we had a damn honest AG in this country he would be looking into jury intimidation rather than parents who don’t want to have their small children looking at pictures of men fellating each other.
Will business owners get reparations for the destruction of their property?
They can get reparations by successfully suing in civil court.
“the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them.”
And the reason he was following the juror bus is…he has a thing for joy rides and following buses?
Beyond farcical which is a pretty apt descriptor for the state of affairs at MSNBC (aka MSDNC) these days.
someone has to take a stand for self defense against lunatics and clear the polluted air of insanity. hope the judge has the appropriate final word. kyle is innocent.
What a complete disaster surrounding the US & the handling of Wisconsin & on down to Kenosha regarding Kyle.
Why was the Mob allowed to run wild for 3 days without LEO putting a stop to it? And the people paying them & are Still Paying them! Why haven’t those commie scum been arrested?
Then the naive Kyle, a minor, shows up & is forced at the threat of Rape & Death by a Convicted Multiple Count Pedo & other assorted evil Trash to take action. And does a great job.
Why did the DA even bring Any charges?
Why didn’t the Governor Throw out All Charges?
Why didn’t the Judge immediately throw out All Charges with Prejudice?
And how in the hell could Kyle end up with such Idiots for Lawyers that refused professional help & funds for Jury Selection.
We can tell Kyle’s Attorneys were Idiots when the jury didn’t come back within 20-30 Minutes with a complete Acquittal on all charges.
This comment is hilarious.
Unbelievable that Butler, a law professor at a prestigious law school should make such prejudicial and moronic comments. I follow Robert Barnes and his legal analysis, and if one wants to get a good legal education follow him with Viva Frei on Youtube or follow Professor Turley with his posts. Both are first rate.
The shame is that Paul Butler-a former prosecutor-made his name by writing a book about prosecutorial abuse. Now, it seems, that his analysis is blinded by color.
https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Get-Free-Hip-Hop-Justice/dp/1595585001/ref=asc_df_1595585001/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312114682075&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1489371884998448517&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003503&hvtargid=pla-498042778982&psc=1
Listening to reid, cross, and the blm clown du jour makes you understand why they are adamantly opposed top meritocracy.
Imagine trying to get a fair trial when the president of the United States labels the defendant a “white supremacist”? The same president who lauded James Eastland not long ago…
“Imagine trying to get a fair trial when the president of the United States labels the defendant a “white supremacist”?”
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When it’s Sleepy Joe doing the criticizing, I’d think you present it as Exhibit A in your defense. He’s wrong about everything. Sorta like Shelia Jackson Lee calling you stupid.
I hope the jurors retain counsel to sue NBC for intimidation and infliction of emotional distress. It was foreseeable that following the bus would cause the jurors a great deal of anguish, especially with the existing threats and riot preparation going on.
The stupidity of the left is astounding!
Now people online suspect that the most obnoxious protesters in Kenosha are FBI agents.
https://waynedupree.com/2021/11/kenosha-fbi-protests
Why does this sound plausible?
The Mystery of Ray Epps
Thanks for posting this, George! Very suspicious, indeed!
Because it might be true.
This was a threat to Juror safety. I shudder to think what could have happened had any jurors been photographed or doxxed. At the very least, intense and direct juror intimidation would have ensued. Vote guilty or else they get you.
If the producer had no plans to photograph or dox them, then what was his purpose in following?
Don’t forget that which isn’t seen – how many other people might have been following that van, but didn’t get caught running a red light?
Moreover, the threat of being photgraphed is enough to intimidate. This jury should have been sequestered, aside from the obviousness is moving the trial to a less dangerous place. We can assume, I guess, that jury has or will find out that the press is out to make them public. It all points toward the jury deliberations not being centered on guilt or innocence but whether the jury is ready to face the consequences of doing the right thing.
The way the judge or any security has to look at it like the stalker is capable of harming someone. Can’t rule that out, even if it wasn’t this guys motive.He’s a moron,though.
Turley being quick to throw stones when he lives in the glass house of “FOXNEWS” is just written for the Trump cult to spew their hatred of anything that’s not FOX.
That sounds very familiar to that jeff silverberg clown that used to bore this place.
Imagine defending msnbc, for anything other than the relentless pursuit of finding victimhood from the ether.
BTW, he isn’t throwing stones, he is simply reporting on msnbc’s self-inflicted rock to the head, again.
Dumbest reply I’ve ever seen (and I follow Joy Reid in Twitter). Notice how it simply bypasses any facts or logic and just goes right to ad hominems. Are you a leftist because you’re stupid or does being a leftist cause you to become stupid? Something tells me you’re a middle aged angry white guy.
Fox News was correct in calling out the Russia Russia Russia hoax… The other networks (and I’ll be gentle here) were wrong.. And that’s why Fox News is first in the ratings.
The NBC statement does not say he wasn’t going to record where each juror was dropped off.
Not that I believe anything they assert, but they didn’t even claim that one.
On a case with multiple instances of jury intimidation running all the way up to the Governor of Wisc., and the judge has had death threats? Where irresponsible parties make accusations of racial bias against the defendant, with not a shred of evidence.
I get why it doesn’t happen, but in a more perfect world the whole case would be dismissed with prejudice and Rittenhouse would win tens of millions of dollars in the defamation suits.
I have gone back and forth on the matter, but this case has made me decide that Times v. Sullivan has to go, replaced by the UK standards for libel.
Based on all that’s happend throughout this trial, it’s my opinion that if Rittenhouse is convicted of anything I think the judge should and will call a mistrial with prejudice.
Here’s your problem, Turley: you don’t know the facts. Neither does the judge. But, that doesn’t stop you, as a paid Fox contributor, to immediately condemn the conduct and then launch into a tirade of criticism against MSNBC and commentators on that network. This is exactly the stuff of Fox–don’t wait for the facts, use any allegation to criticize non-Trump media. As it turns out, the guy wasn’t a regular employee–he was a “freelancer”, meaning that he sold his video to whomever would pay for it. The network didn’t condone what he did. And, you once again save your sharpest attacks for women, especially women of color. I still don’t know how you can be allowed to teach at university when you show such a consistent pattern of misogyny and racism, just like your employer.
Another point is that you save your criticism about journalism and violation of journalistic standards to everyone except the place where it most belongs–the most egregious offender of all–your employer–Fox, that dishes in partisanship and lying as regular fare. You still refuse to address the Big Lie and its implications for the American people.
Your argument fallacies are so numerous I don’t even know were to begin. Perhaps a better education would be a start.
fallacies are so numerous I don’t even know were to begin
Don’t bother. Nothing but juvenile troll behavior.
List just one or two.
Easy….start with your Moniker….nothing required beyond that!
She/it/they are probably the most ignorant and irritating troll on this site. Best to just ignore them.
Of course the Biggest Lie of all is referencing the ever-increasing evidence of voter fraud as a Lie.
From the FBI’s website: “Details:
On October 20, 2021, a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York indicted SEYYED MOHAMMAD HOSEIN MUSA KAZEMI, also known as “Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazem”, and “Hosein Zamani”, and SAJJAD KASHIAN, also known as “Kiarash Nabavi”, for, among other things, computer intrusion, voter intimidation, and interstate threat offenses, for their alleged participation in a multi-faceted campaign aimed at influencing and interfering with the United States 2020 Presidential Election”
“Here’s your problem, Turley: you don’t know the facts. Neither does the judge.”
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Meglomania or Dunning-Kruger? You decide.
So you work for msnbc
There is no so called news organization as low, reprehensible, and full of brainless pissants as MSNBC.
MSNBC….a news organization…..about as much as BLM is charitable organization dedicated to building businesses in the Black Community.