He yelled at the prosecutor and prevented Kyle Rittenhouse from killing people who were called victims. He has always been strong and rude at times, but is willing to gently and dexterously explain the reasons for his regular decisions. He was counterattacked at strange moments, from ease to racial attack.

The longest-serving circuit judge in Wisconsin, Bruce Schroeder, has become the lightning rod at the center of the Kyle Rittenhouse case, one of the most important trials in Wisconsin history.

But Schroeder also has his defenders. They said he has the right to manage the court in his own way and has abided by his rules for many years.

"We forget that the judge is a real person," said Milwaukee defense attorney Dan Adams. "He has qualities, and everyone has them.

He said: "Part of the trial lawyer's job is to understand these and understand the different opinions and positions of the work. I think (defense lawyer) Mark Richards is better than (Assistant District Attorney Thomas) Binger in this regard."

As the trial enters its third week, Schroeder will once again be the focus of attention on Monday-the case may be submitted to the jury. The closing debate will begin in the morning. 

Schroeder has been on the bench since he was appointed by the then governor in 1983. Tony Earl. His current term will not expire until 2026. He has presided over high-profile cases before, such as the trial of Mark Jensen, who was convicted of using antifreeze to kill his wife, but won two new trials on appeal.

Two Milwaukee attorneys who have practiced before Schroder-Julius King and John Berthall-said they understand why Schroder's new national audience may not be used to his style. But both said that bystanders shouldn't let this distract them.

"That's just Judge Schroeder," King said. "He is a thoughtful judge. He knows the law. He has been around for a long time. 

"He often thinks out loud. I think he organizes his thoughts out loud. This is what people see. In my opinion, it's trying to be right."

Berthall called Schroeder "sometimes a bit weird," but he also considered him the "perfect judge" for the Rittenhouse trial because he usually applies the law fairly.

"He is him, and I don't think it has anything to do with the case," Birthall said.

Shortly before the start of the Rittenhouse trial, Schroeder began to make waves across the country. He made a polarizing decision, prohibiting lawyers from calling people killed by Rittenhouse as "victims" until someone is found guilty. He called this term "full load".

This is his standard rule, and he applies to previous cases. He also admitted that this is a "I guess very few judges share with me" method.

Retired State Supreme Court Judge Janine Geske called the rule "weird" but said it was "definitely within his jurisdiction."

"He has his rules," Geske said. "He will follow these rules. All of these are good. It's a style."

But observers said that when Schroeder rejected the prosecutor's request to prohibit defense lawyers from calling these people "robbers, thugs, arsonists, or any other derogatory terms," ​​Schroeder adopted a double standard. Some of these words were used in the testimony.

Since then, as the trial lasted for more than two weeks, Schroeder continued to review the manner in which he proceeded with the lawsuit and his behavior in his free time.

In perhaps the most dramatic part of the trial—Rittenhouse spent a few hours in the witness stand on Wednesday—Schroeder interrupted Bingcu's cross-examination twice and severely warned him of his questioning method.

In the first case, Binger tried to prove that Rittenhouse benefited from keeping quiet, listening, and seeing evidence for more than a week. Binge tried to prove that Rittenhouse could therefore adjust his testimony around this.

As the defendant, Rittenhouse has the right to remain silent.

In the second part, Bingge almost appeared to present a video that Schroeder ruled that it could not be mentioned before the jury. The video was taken more than a week before the Kenosha shooting. The video showed people stealing from a convenience store. Rittenhouse can be heard in the video saying that if he had a gun, he would shoot the thief.

On both occasions, Schroeder forgave the jury for the jury, and dressed up for the illegal behavior of the ice tray, sometimes yelling at him and interrupting him.

"I don't know why you are doing this," Schroeder shouted.

Geske said she understands how judges can be angry with prosecutors who try to question witnesses about silence. But she said his screams crossed the line.

"Don't yell at the lawyer," she said, "I guess he may be exhausted."

However, Adams said he did not see any problems with Schroeder's response and argued that Binge knew he was risking severe condemnation.

Adams said: "If a lawyer violates the rules of the court, it is not unheard of that a judge scolds a barrister in their court." "I think Tom Binger... decided to ask for forgiveness instead of allowing access to those who are prohibited. Area. He got bull horns. This is the risk-reward calculus. Binger did that calculus, but he calculated it wrong."

Schroeder was also criticized for acknowledging his lack of understanding of modern technology.

For example, prosecutors want to zoom in on images in key drone videos to make it easier to see what Rittenhouse was doing just before the first shot.

But after the defense claimed that the two-finger zoom function on the iPad would distort the image, Schroeder told prosecutors that they must introduce an expert to prove that the image would not be distorted by magnification.

"I don't know why the court should invest such high costs, complexity and delays in something that is already a bit like a media circus," said Craig Ball, an expert in electronic evidence and a Texas attorney. .

Bauer said he didn't understand why the judge would ask experts to explain the technical methods behind the zoom function, without some credible statement that zooming-the "normal" and "non-malicious" functions-distorted the image.

Bauer said that the lack of understanding of technical concepts by many lawyers and judges is a big problem.

"Lawyers-judges are lawyers-keep up with the technology that affects modern evidence. This is a question of professional responsibility. Judges and lawyers have always suffered from digital evidence. Sometimes, I would say that they have inadvertently slowed down their learning speed. ,"He said. Said.

In addition to how Schroeder guided the proceedings, he was also under scrutiny in his free time during the trial.

He was ridiculed online for his mobile phone's tendency to ring in court. The ringtone was Lee Greenwood's "God Bless America".

But other strange things did not arouse other people's love.

Schroeder was furious on Wednesday when he made an attempted joke during the trial adjournment for lunch.

Schroeder said: "I hope that Asian food will not come... it will not appear on one of the ships along the Long Beach Port."

The joke obviously refers to the backlog of supply chains along the southern coast of California, but some people on social media interpreted it as expressing an anti-Asian sentiment.

Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding said on Twitter: “Most Chinese Americans know the racist idiom'slow boat to China' to laugh at anything that takes a long time. Things." "I'm (a) Asian American immigrant-I keep hearing this kind of nonsense. It's racism. He could have said he was late for lunch."

Civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson also responded on Twitter, saying, “It is clear that this person should not judge anything” in response to comments.

Schroeder was also criticized for trying to recognize Veterans Day on Thursday. That morning, when the defense was about to start a new day, he would ask the expert witness John Black, and Schroeder asked who was the veteran in the room.

In the presence of the jury, only one person claimed to be a veteran-Black.

"Okay, I think we can applaud the people who serve our country," Schroeder said.

Shortly before Black began to testify, many people in the court applauded Black, and the prosecution later objected, believing that this was beyond the hearing of the jury.

Onlookers believe that Schroeder's actions may inadvertently provide witnesses with more credibility in the eyes of jurors.

"This move by veterans and witnesses is really worrying," Gesk said. "I don't know what he is doing. My guess is that he is very tired. These cases are difficult to hear and mentally exhausting. But the jury did not have any excuses for applauding defense witnesses. I can't even imagine."

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.