Judge in Kyle Rittenhouse trial praises jury as 'wonderful' after it reached verdict clearing the teen of homicide charges

• The judge overseeing the Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial lavished praise on the jury after it reached its not guilty verdict.
• Judge Bruce Schroeder said he "couldn't have asked for a better jury to work with."

Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder praised members of the jury in Kyle Rittenhouse's trial after they reached a verdict that cleared the teen of homicide charges, following nearly four full days of deliberations.

"I couldn't have asked for a better jury to work with, and it has truly been my pleasure," Schroeder said after 12 jurors entered not guilty verdicts Friday, acquitting Rittenhouse of all five charges against him.

Schroeder's conduct throughout the three-week trial has been met with puzzlement from some observers of the case. He forbade attorneys from describing two men Rittenhouse fatally shot and a third person he injured during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as "victims," but said they could be called "rioters" and "looters."

Schroeder also drew criticism for his confusion about pieces of evidence presented at the trial, an odd remark he made about Asian food, and for letting Rittenhouse personally use a tumbler to randomly select the alternate jurors in the trial.

Prosecutors brought homicide and reckless endangerment charges against Rittenhouse, who brought a gun from his home in Illinois to Kenosha amid protests in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse argued that he shot the three men in self-defense.

On Friday, Schroeder praised the jury for paying attention to the trial's complications. Rittenhouse shook and heaved as the judge made his comments from the bench.

"You were a wonderful jury to work with," Schroeder said. "You were punctual, you were attentive."

Schroeder said his remarks were not to be taken as commentary on the verdict itself, but as a signal of his confidence in the United States' jury system.

"Without commenting on the verdicts themselves — just in terms of your attentiveness and cooperation that you gave to us, justifies the confidence that the founders of our country placed," Schroeder said.