Mental Health Advocates Worry About Terms Like 'Crazy' Being Used in Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

As the jury in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse continues deliberation, mental health advocates have voiced their concern about the defense's description of the first man Rittenhouse shot and killed.

Joseph Rosenbaum, 36 at the time of his death in August 2020, was called "irrational and crazy" by Rittenhouse's attorney Mark Richards.

Rosenbaum was on medication for bipolar disorder and depression, and was allegedly trying to take Rittenhouse's rifle from him, which Richards used to suggest to the jury that the situation could have been worse if Rittenhouse had not shot Rosenbaum.

"I'm glad he shot him because if Joseph Rosenbaum got that gun I don't for a minute believe he wouldn't have used it against somebody else," Richards said as part of his closing arguments in the trial of the 18-year-old Rittenhouse for the death of Rosenbaum and another man, as well as shooting a third.

According to the Associated Press, mental health advocates say Richards' description and use of pejorative terminology like "irrational and crazy" is harmful by portraying those suffering from mental illnesses as homicidal dangers that need to be dealt with, and potentially killed if they are trying to possess a weapon.

Sue Abderholden, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota, said studies have shown people suffering from bipolar disorder and depression are more often a danger to themselves than to the people around them.

Rittenhouse faces a potential sentence of life in prison if found guilty by the jury in its third day of deliberations.

According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, bipolar disorder affects over 5 million U.S. adults every year.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

To some legal experts and other observers, Richards' remarks were a smart courtroom strategy and an accurate depiction of the threat faced by Rittenhouse, who says he shot the men in self-defense.

NAMI's work includes training police officers to use de-escalation strategies when dealing with people who have a mental illness.

"You just don't have someone shot down, particularly someone who is unarmed," she said.

Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who said he went armed to the Kenosha protests to protect property, testified during the trial that Rosenbaum acted "belligerently" that night and seemed to want "to entice someone to do something," but did not appear to pose a serious threat to anyone. Lackowski said he turned his back on Rosenbaum and ignored him.

Ryan Balch, a former Army infantryman who patrolled the streets with Rosenbaum, testified that Rosenbaum was "hyperaggressive and acting out in a violent manner," including trying to set fires and throwing rocks. Balch said at one point, he got between Rosenbaum and another man while Rosenbaum was trying to start a fire and that Rosenbaum got angry, shouting, "If I catch any of you guys alone tonight, I'm going to f—- kill you!" Balch said Rittenhouse was within earshot when the threat was made.

Rittenhouse didn't know Rosenbaum or his background when they crossed paths at the protest that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer. And the jury wasn't supposed to know much about him either.

During pretrial hearings, defense attorneys said they wanted to present evidence of Rosenbaum's past, including an Arizona conviction for sexually abusing a minor in 2002. They planned to argue that Rosenbaum was trying to take the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse's weapon during their encounter because Rosenbaum wasn't legally allowed to have a gun due to his criminal past. Prosecutors argued that the defense was trying to signal to the jury that Rosenbaum was a bad guy who deserved to die.

Judge Bruce Schroeder blocked defense lawyers from revealing the sex crime conviction at the trial. Jurors also were not supposed to hear about Rosenbaum's mental health history, which Schroeder said wasn't relevant because Rittenhouse didn't know it when he shot him.

But the information came out in court after prosecutors asked Rosenbaum's fiancée, Kariann Swart, whether Rosenbaum — whom she said had just been released from a hospital — had taken medication earlier on the day he was shot. Schroeder later ruled that by asking that question, prosecutors opened the door for the defense to ask Swart what the medication treated. Under cross-examination, she told jurors it was for bipolar disorder and depression.

Swart also testified that Rosenbaum had returned from a Milwaukee hospital on the day of the shooting. The jury did not hear that Rosenbaum had been in a mental health ward following a suicide attempt.

Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor who is now in private practice and who isn't involved in the Rittenhouse case, believes the testimony about Rosenbaum's mental illness was "very important to the self-defense argument" and fair game.

People, including the jury, might agree that mental illness on its own does not cause someone to be violent, Turner said. But that information along with Rosenbaum's actions that night — from getting in the face of men armed with rifles to at one point chasing after Rittenhouse — likely was a "nodding their head kind of moment" for jurors.

"It fortifies the defense argument that this is the truth, this is the reality," Turner said.

Kim Motley, an attorney representing Rosenbaum's estate, said she understands Richards' efforts to "vigorously defend" his client. But she called his comments about being glad Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum — among the final words jurors heard before they started deliberating Tuesday following a roughly two-week trial — "disgusting" and offensive to people who struggle with mental illness.

"This trial isn't about the type of person Joseph Rosenbaum was," Motley said. "This trial is about his client, Kyle Rittenhouse."