Kyle Rittenhouse testifies in his own defense

Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi said in court this afternoon that the defense is making a motion for a mistrial with prejudice.

Chirafasi said the prosecutor, ADA Joseph Binger, committed "what amounts to prosecutorial overreach."

Earlier in the day, Judge Bruce Schroeder asked the jury to leave the courtroom twice during cross-examination and then sharply admonished Binger for his line of questioning.

The first incident related to Binger’s questions about Rittenhouse’s post-arrest silence, a right solidified in the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

“The problem is this is a grave constitutional violation for you to talk about the defendant’s silence,” Schroeder said. “You’re right on the borderline, and you may be over, but it better stop.”

The second admonishment related to questions about an incident two weeks before the shootings that Schroeder has said would not be permitted to come into evidence. 

Chirafasi said this afternoon that the judge "warned" Binger that testifying about "certain things" was "off limits."

"I think the court has to make some findings as it relates to the bad faith on the part of the prosecution, and if the court makes a finding that the actions that I had talked about were done in bad faith," Chirafasi said.

The defense attorney asked the court to grant the motion with prejudice.

The judge said he would take the motion under advisement. "There better not be another incident," he said.

The court has resumed in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial after taking a lunch break.

Rittenhouse testified before the break that he was scared for his life and acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in what is likely to be the pivotal testimony of his homicide trial.

"I didn't do anything wrong. I defended myself," he testified.

In the moments before the shooting, another man, Joshua Ziminski, told Rosenbaum to "get him and kill him," Rittenhouse testified. Rosenbaum started to chase the teenager in a parking lot and threw a plastic bag at him, but Rittenhouse said he believed at the time that the thrown object was a chain.

The 18-year-old's stunning testimony came a day after the prosecution rested its case on Tuesday after calling 22 witnesses over six days. The prosecution's case was highlighted by testimony from an armed paramedic who was shot by Rittenhouse and a journalist who said the gunfire put him in danger.

Twice during cross-examination, Judge Bruce Schroeder asked the jury to leave the courtroom and then sharply admonished Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger for his line of questioning.

The first incident related to Binger’s questions about Rittenhouse’s post-arrest silence, a right solidified in the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

“The problem is this is a grave constitutional violation for you to talk about the defendant’s silence,” Schroeder said. “You’re right on the borderline, and you may be over, but it better stop.”

The second admonishment related to questions about an incident two weeks before the shootings that Schroeder has said would not be permitted to come into evidence. 

Binger said he believed that incident was newly relevant to the case, but Schroeder criticized him for not asking permission first and affirmed the evidence would not be allowed.

“I apologize, your honor. You're right, I probably should have brought this to your attention earlier. I may have misunderstood your ruling because I thought your ruling was if the evidence in this case made that more relevant, you would admit it or at least considered it's admittance,” Binger said.

Binger said he thought the circumstances would be different because the judge had said he hadn’t heard anything in the trial to change his rulings prior to Rittenhouse’s testimony. 

“Don’t get brazen with me,” Schroeder told Binger. “You know very well that an attorney can’t go into these types of areas when the judge has already ruled without asking outside the presence of the jury to do so, so don’t give me that.”

The court is taking a break for lunch until 2 p.m. ET.

The prosecution has been cross-examining Kyle Rittenhouse about how the night of the shooting unfolded.

Before the prosecution began, Rittenhouse testified that he was scared for his life and acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in what is likely to be the pivotal testimony of his homicide trial.

"I didn't do anything wrong. I defended myself," he testified.

Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder is known to be viewed as a tough jurist.

During today's line of questioning, Schroeder stopped prosecutor Thomas Binger's cross-examination of Kyle Rittenhouse to admonish the prosecution team's line of questioning.

The two had a testy exchange after the judge asked the jury to leave the courtroom.

Schroeder also made headlines last month by reiterating his longstanding rule of not allowing prosecutors to refer to people as "victims" before juries in his courtroom.

At the same time, Schroeder said at a pretrial hearing that the men who were shot could be described as "looters" or "rioters" if the defense can show they engaged in such activity during protests after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in August 2020, leaving Blake paralyzed.

His decision immediately sparked debate and in some cases outrage in legal circles and Schroeder, the longest serving active judge in Wisconsin's trial courts was, once again, thrust into the spotlight.

"His word is final and he's not afraid to make tough decisions," said Dan Adams, a Wisconsin criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.

Schroeder, 75, has come under scrutiny many times during his nearly 40 years on the bench: From a 2018 sentence — thrown out on appeal — requiring a convicted shoplifter to tell store managers she was on supervision for retail theft, to ordering AIDS tests for sex workers in the late 1980s.

"He has a reputation for doing what he believes is the right thing and being an independent thinker," said William Lynch, a retired attorney who served on the board of the ACLU of Wisconsin at the time of Schroeder ruling about the AIDS tests.

"And it's his courtroom. He doesn't like to be pushed around by either party. So he has a strong sense of his own his bearing in the courtroom," Lynch said.

CNN has sought comment from Schroeder.

A seasoned southeast Wisconsin attorney who has appeared before Schroeder many times described the judge as "someone who has studied the Constitution and the enumerated rights for criminal defendants and... respects the right of the defense to put on a defense."

"He's a super old school guy," said the attorney, who asked not to be named because he still appears before Schroeder.

"And that doesn't mean that he's old. I mean he's 75 years old, which is older than most judges, but he's just an old school guy. He still operates his courtroom like it's 1980."

Schroeder will be 80 when his current terms ends in 2026.

The Wisconsin defense attorney who asked not to be identified noted that Schroeder's sharp tongue and sometimes combative manner have "mellowed" over the years.

"He barks some and, for younger lawyers, they are very sensitive to that sort of thing. 'Oh, the judge yelled at me.'" the attorney said. "Like, toughen up, buttercup. This is felony court. Older lawyers are like, 'Okay, he yelled at me. And then I saw him in the hallway and he asked me how my son's basketball game was.' That's just his style."

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Judge Bruce Schroeder stopped prosecutor Thomas Binger's cross-examination of Kyle Rittenhouse to admonish the prosecution team's line of questioning.

The two had a testy exchange after the judge asked the jury to leave the courtroom.

"Don't get brazen with me," Schroeder told Binger.

The exchange is ongoing.

Kyle Rittenhouse testified that when he chose a gun for his friend, Dominick Black, to purchase for him, he selected an AR-15 over a pistol because he believed he could not legally possess a pistol, and thought the AR-15 "looked cool."

"So you're telling us that the reason that you wanted Dominic to buy you an AR-15 as opposed to a pistol... the only reason is because you felt you couldn't lawfully possess a pistol?" asked prosecutor Thomas Binger.

"Correct," responded Rittenhouse.

"You didn't pick out the AR-15 for any other reason?" continued Binger.

Rittenhouse then agreed with the prosecutor that he had not purchased the weapon to hunt, or for home protection, again saying he, "thought it looked cool if that's a reason."

Rittenhouse then took issue with the prosecutor's suggestion that he might have chosen the AR-15 because similar weapons appear in first-person shooter video games, saying "there are guns in video games that resemble all guns."

"It's just a video game," he said later in the exchange. "It's not real life."

Prosecutor Thomas Binger is now cross-examining defendant Kyle Rittenhouse. The ADA opened his questioning of Rittenhouse by asking, "Everyone you shot at that night you intended to kill, correct?"

"I didn't intend to kill them. I intended to stop the people who were attacking me," Rittenhouse said.

When Binger pressed Rittenhouse that he stopped these people by "killing them," Rittenhouse pushed back, responding, "Two of them passed away, but I stopped the threat from attacking me."

Rittenhouse agreed with Binger that he intentionally used "deadly force" on his victims that night.

The cross-examination is ongoing.

Kyle Rittenhouse testified that after he fell to the ground, he saw Gaige Grosskreutz standing in front of him. He said that he saw a pistol in Grosskreutz's hand.

"That's when I shoot him," he continued.

He said that he shot Grosskreutz once but did not know where he shot him.

Rittenhouse shot Grosskreutz once in his right bicep with his AR-15 rifle. Grosskreutz was the only shooting victim to survive.

Asked by his attorney what happened after he shot Grosskreutz, Rittenhouse said, "He's no longer a threat to me."