The Kenosha County Sheriff resorted to dishing out ‘cookies for peace’ and cups of coffee at the courthouse on Thursday in a desperate effort to keep the crowds calm as the nervous wait for a verdict in the Rittenhouse trial rumbled on.
Sheriff David Beth – who failed to contain the riots last year after his 116 deputies were overrun by more than 1,000 protesters – was at the courthouse on Thursday as the jury deliberated the teenager’s fate for a third day.
He was pictured approaching BLM protesters and Rittenhouse supporters, offering them cookies and a warm drink, in an effort to keep the peace.
‘The Sheriff wanted to extend a goodwill gesture to the community in hopes that it would reduce tensions among the folks outside the courthouse and bring people together.
‘It seemed to work from what we were seeing,’ a spokesman for the force told DailyMail.com on Thursday.
His efforts weren’t entirely successful. One man was arrested after showing up with a gun, a felony because it is within 1,000ft of a school. Yesterday, a man and a woman were arrested at the court and charged with disorderly conduct.
There is yet to be any violence beyond that, but tensions are high and rising.
Five elementary schools announced on Wednesday night that they are going remote for the rest of the week to keep kids off the streets in case of any unrest.
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth serves coffee and cookies outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, during the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 18, 2021
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth passes out ‘Cookies for Peace’ to demonstrators at the Kenosha County Courthouse on the third day of jury deliberations in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 18, 2021
A spokesman for the sheriff’s department told DailyMail.com the coffee and cookies were a ‘goodwill gesture in the hopes of reducing tensions’. ‘It seemed to work,’ they said
An armed man dressed in all black and wearing a mask being arrested for having a firearm by the Kenosha County Police in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse. He has not been identified
The man is the only person who was arrested on Thursday. Two protesters were arrested on Wednesday for disorderly conduct
Kyle Rittenhouse, center, pulls out his chair for a meeting Judge Bruce Schroeder called during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on November 18, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Frank Elementary School, one of them, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday: ‘We will switch to virtual tomorrow and Friday as a precaution.
Our attendance area includes the homes surrounding the Kenosha Courthouse. Students log on at 8:15am with their teachers and crews.’
There are 500 National Guard troops now on standby 60 miles away from Kenosha in case any tensions arise.
Last August, Sheriff Beth found his force under siege when hundreds of protesters rushed to their small town after the Jacob Blake shooting. Kenosha Police Department, which had fewer than 200 officers at the time, was equally under outnumbered and the town begged for help from the Governor, but got only a few hundred National Guard troops at first.
Among those at the courthouse on Thursday was Daunte Wright’s brother Damik Wright who told DailyMail.com: ‘Everybody is boots on the ground regardless of whether its Mexico or Canada we are coming. It’s not just with one family.
‘Wherever there is police brutality we are coming and will stand in solidarity with them,’ he said.
Maserati Mike, a Rittenhouse supporter who showed up yesterday carrying a gun and was asked to leave, returned on Thursday carrying a sex toy which he waved in the air. He told reporters his name was Jesse Kline.
A protester who previously called himself Maserati Mike, but has now identified himself as Jesse Kline, carries a Colt rifle bag as he walks with a dog outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, during the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 18, 2021
Bishop Tavis Grant (left), Jacob Blake’s uncle Justin Blake (right) and Daunte Wright’s brother Damik Wright (center). Damik told DailyMail.com: ‘Wherever there is police brutality we are coming and will stand in solidarity with them’
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A protester speaking on a microphone outside the courthouse on Thursday. There has so far been an even split of BLM protesters and Rittenhouse supporters
BLM protesters outside the court on Thursday as the jury deliberated for a third day. Some said he was ‘guilty as hell’ and called the trial a ‘farce’
Seth Warichak, left, stands outside the Kenosha County Courthouse during the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021 in Kenosha, Wis. Rittenhouse is accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a protest over police brutality in Kenosha, last year
A protester stands outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, during the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 18, 2021
Tom Heineman age 60 from Racine, WI, protesting on the steps of the Kenosha County Courthouse
A man holds a placard outside the Kenosha County courthouse as the jury deliberates for a third day in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, 18 November 2021. Rittenhouse is being tried for the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz on 25 August 2020 during civil unrest in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake
Inside the courtroom, Rittenhouse was waiting for a third day to find out if he will end up in prison for the rest of his life.
Judge Bruce Schroeder alerts the attorneys that a man claiming to be with a major news network was arrested the previous night during Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on November 18, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin
The jury is deliberating five charges; two of homicide, one of attempted homicide and two of recklessly endangering public safety.
He has pleaded not guilty across the board and insists he was in Kenosha on August 25, 2020, to give first aid and help protect local businesses from damage.
There had already been two nights of riots by the time Rittenhouse took to the streets.
On Monday, his legal team asked for a mistrial because the prosecution did not supply them with a high definition version of drone footage early enough in the trial for them to be able to prepare a defense for it.
The jury now has that footage and can watch it as much as jurors’ like to form a verdict.
In other chaos surrounding the trial, MSNBC has been banned from the courtroom after a journalist was caught near the jury bus carrying the jurors out of court.
Police say the journalist was suspected of following them and was trying to take photographs. In a statement on Thursday, they said: ‘Last night a person who is alleging to be affiliated with a national media outlet was briefly taken into custody and issued several traffic related citations. Police suspect this person was trying to photograph jurors.
‘This incident is being investigated much further.’
MSNBC insisted that it was a misunderstanding and that the journalist was pulled over for a traffic violation.
‘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,’ an NBC spokesman said.
Judge Bruce Schroeder was furious with the possibility that the journalist might have tried to get to the jury or photograph them.
‘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,’ he said.
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