Deathrow inmate’s clemency hearing delayed

A clemency hearing for Oklahoma death row inmate Julius Jones scheduled for Tuesday has been delayed for a week while his legal challenge is pending in federal court. Jones maintains his innocence and says he was set up by a former friend who was the prosecution’s main witness against him. However, during his trial, a juror was reported after his trial for racial bias.

MSNBC’s Ari Melber talks about the case.

Additionally, for Jones, he and five other death row inmates are seeking to be reinstated into a federal lawsuit, challenging Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol. A federal district judge on Monday rejected the inmates’ request, and their attorneys immediately appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

According to Wisconsin Judge, Victims of Shooting Are Rioters and Looters

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder says, victims can not be called victims but can be called rioters, arsonists, and looters in the recent pre-trial hearing of alleged Kyle Rittenhouse.

On August 25, 2020, amid the Kenosha unrest that had been preceded by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Kyle Rittenhouse, a then 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, was driven to Kenosha by his mother where he shot and killed two people and wounded another during multiple confrontations at two locations.

Rittenhouse’s defense attorney argued the shootings should be weighed against the wider context of what was happening that night. "All of that lawlessness, all of the facts and circumstances surrounding what is going on, is relevant in terms of Kyle Rittenhouse's conduct. I think it's impossible to say that it's not."

The three men shot by Rittenhouse have never been charged with any crime related to the protests against police brutality that occurred on the night of August 25, 2020, nor has any evidence surfaced to suggest that they had. It is as if the Judge wants to try the victims in his court and not the person tried with murdered and attempted murder among other criminal charges.

Thomas Binger, the prosecutor, argued Monday that any behavior Rosenbaum, Huber or Grosskreutz may have participated in that night could lead the jury to believe they were arsonists, rioters or looters wasn't witnessed by Rittenhouse and shouldn't be part of his defense.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger argued the judge was setting up a "double standard" due to his longstanding rule of not allowing prosecutors to refer to people as "victims" at trial.

"If I were to count the number of times that you've admonished me not to call someone a victim during a trial, it would be in the thousands," Binger said.

"The word 'victim' is a loaded, loaded word. And I think 'alleged victim' is a cousin to it," Judge Schroeder said.

But Binger disagreed, telling the judge, "I think it's the exact same issue. The terms that I'm identifying here, such as 'rioters,' 'looters,' 'arsonists,' are as loaded, if not more loaded, than the term 'victim.'

BTR News Briefs are written and produced by Scotty Reid and sponsored by the non-profit, Black Talk Media Project! Make a Donation towards the production of independent news media today!