Prosecutors want Kyle Rittenhouse’s bail agreement altered to avoid bars, Proud Boys
Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been charged with the murder of two men during an anti-police brutality protest last year, has been out at the bar, drinking and taking photos with men flashing hand signals linked to white supremacists.
Prosecutors want that to stop.
The 18-year-old is out on a $2 million bail after the fatal Kenosha shooting on Aug. 25, and prosecutors have asked a judge to change the conditions of his release.
The motion, filed Wednesday and obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, requests that Rittenhouse be banned from associating with groups like the Proud Boys, which have been designated a hate group by the SPLC. He also should be banned from drinking alcohol, lawyers argued, “because alcohol consumption often leads to violence.”
Rittenhouse was photographed at Pudgy’s Pub, a Mount Pleasant bar, last week in a “Free As F--k” T-shirt, according to the motion.
He also posed with a group of men flashing an upside down “OK” symbol, which has been linked to white supremacist groups and was serenaded with “Proud of Your Boy,” a song originally written for “Aladdin” that has been co-opted by the Proud Boys.
“The defendant’s continued association with members of a group that prides itself on violence, and the use of their symbols, raises the significant possibility of future harm,” prosecutors wrote. “Further, this association may serve to intimidate potential witnesses.”
A hearing for the prosecutors’ request has not been booked yet.
The final pretrial hearing in Rittenhouse’s case is scheduled for March 10, with jury selection beginning on March 29.
