Addressing the incident the night before, Judge Schroeder explained that it would’ve been nearly impossible to photograph the jury inside the bus he described as a “sealed box”.

The jurors have been transported to the court in the bus from a second location each day as an added layer of identity protections, the judge said.

He said the windows are covered to prevent jurors from being exposed to disruptions along the route, including protesters or signs posted in Kenosha.

“I’m going to call it a sealed box and that’s being done every day that they’re brought to the building,” Judge Schroeder said.

NBC News released the following statement addressing the judge’s ban:

“Last night, a freelancer received a traffic citation. While the traffic violation took place near the jury van, the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations and never photographed or intended to photograph them.

“We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with the authorities on any investigation.”

The Independent’s Alex Woodward reports:

Judge Schroeder banned MSNBC from the courthouse after a man claiming to be affiliated with the courthouse allegedly tried to photograph the jury on Wednesday night.

“I have instructed that no one from MSNBC News will be permitted in this building for the duration of this trial,” the judge said Thursday.

“This is a very serious matter and I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is, but absolutely it would go without much thinking that someone who is following the jury bus – that is an extremely serious matter and will be referred to the proper authorities for further action.”

Judge Schroeder said the man seen following the jury bus identified himself as James J Morrison and claimed he’d been instructed by an MSNBC booking agent to track the vehicle.

A man claiming to be a producer for MSNBC allegedly attempted to photograph the Rittenhouse jury on Wednesday night.

The Kenosha Police Department issued a statement about the incident on Thursday morning.

“Last night a person who is alleging to be affiliated with a national media outlet was briefly taken into custody and issued several traffic related citations,” the statement read.

“Police suspect this person was trying to photograph jurors.

“There was no breach of security regarding the jury, nor were there any photographs obtained. This investigation remains active and open, no further information.”

The foreperson of the jury – who communicates with the judge on the panel’s behalf and will ultimately deliver the verdict – is a white woman in her 50s, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The woman, who reportedly took copious notes throughout the trial, is also responsible for passing questions to the court during deliberation.

The Tribune reports: “During the selection process, the soft-spoken woman said she had driven through downtown Kenosha after the unrest to look at the damage. She said it would not influence her decision in the case.”

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger was seen entering Judge Schroeder’s chambers on Thursday morning, according to Associated Press reporter Michael Tarm.

It is unclear what the pair were discussing.

Soon after, Judge Schroeder briefly appeared on the court livestream but did not speak and there was no audio available.

The judge has a full docket of other cases today, Mr Tarm said.

Two protesters who were arrested during clashes outside the Kenosha County court on Wednesday evening have been identified.

Anthony Chacon, 20, was booked on charges of felony bail jumping, misdemeanour bail jumping, battery, resisting and disorderly conduct, a Kenosha Police spokesperson confirmed to Fox News.

Mr Chacon was reportedly seen “body-slamming” a reporter and attacking a supporter of Mr Rittenhouse while wearing a T-shirt which read: “F**k Kyle.” The bail-jumping charges indicate Mr Chacon has a previous criminal record, the details of which are unknown.

The second protester arrested was 34-year-old Shaquita Cornelious. She was booked on charges of resisting, disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana, the police spokesperson said.

In a media release about the arrests, the Kenosha Sheriff’s Department said several officers were deployed to keep the crowds – including journalists – from interfering.

Mr Rittenhouse’s defence attorneys have filed two motions to declare a mistrial, both of which are still pending.

The first – requested in court on 10 November and formally filed late Monday – accuses the prosecution of engaging in misconduct with video evidence and its cross-examination of the defendant. The motion asks for a mistrial with prejudice, meaning Mr Rittenhouse could not be tried again for the same crimes.

The second motion, requested in court on Monday, pertains to the same video evidence as the first but seeks a mistrial without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could seek a new trial.

Judge Schroeder has not indicated when he intends to rule on either motion, at one point saying he was waiting for the state to file an official response to the first.

If the jury returns a verdict of not guilty, both motions are moot. If a guilty verdict is reached, Judge Schroeder will be forced to rule.

The Independent’s Alex Woodward explains:

As Mr Rittenhouse stands trial for shooting three men at a protest last fall, viewers have come to expect the unexpected after a series of dramatic scenes inside the courtroom in Kenosha.

Some of the most memorable moments have centred around Judge Schroeder, who unleashed a vicious rebuke of the prosecution, questioned the reliability of Apple’s technology and made a joke about “Asian food”. In lighter moments, the judge broke out into song in front of the jury and flipped through a cookie catalogue during a break.

The state’s closing argument also brought a few noteworthy instances, including when a prosecutor pointed Mr Rittenhouse’s AR-15 at the jury and used a movie clip to underline a point.

But the most striking stretch of the trial came on 10 November, when Mr Rittenhouse took the stand in his own defence and broke down in tears as he recounted the moments before he fatally shot his first victim, Joseph Rosenbaum.

As the jury continues deliberations on five felony charges, The Independent’s Megan Sheets explains some of the most provocative moments so far:

As Kyle Rittenhouse‘s trial has played out in the Kenosha courtroom of Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder, moments of apparent deference to the defendant have struck many observers as curiously different from how murder proceedings often unfold.

Schroeder addressed some of these observations Wednesday, saying “people should have confidence in the outcome of the trial.” He called some coverage of the case “frightening.”

Schroeder, the longest-serving circuit judge in Wisconsin, said he’s been letting defendants draw jury alternates’ numbers for an estimated 20 years.

He explained Wednesday that he started doing it after the trial of a Black man when there was only one Black person on the jury and that person was dismissed after the court clerk drew the juror as an alternate.

Schroeder said that while there was nothing wrong with the way the alternate was picked, the optics looked bad.

Since then he said he’s had an almost universal policy of having defendants draw alternates. Legal experts said that might be unconventional, but not necessarily wrong. Schroeder said he hasn’t had any complaints in this case, and suggested that those who were dissatisfied were trying to undermine the results of the trial.

Includes reporting by AP

Five schools in Kenosha are going virtual this week over concerns for the safety of staff and students due to the schools’ proximity to the Kenosha County Courthouse.

These include Brass Elementary, Frank Elementary School, Harborside Academy, Reuther Central High School and Washington Middle School, reported ABC-affiliate WISN.

“While we have not been advised of any existing imminent danger, we feel this is the best course of action to protect our students and staff during an uncertain time. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement to receive support as needed in the days and weeks ahead,” said Kenosha Unified School District in a message to parents cited by the TV news station.

As the judge presiding over Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial came under scrutiny once again for allowing Mr Rittenhouse to pick the names of the six jurors, a defence attorney practicing in Kenosha court for 54 years said that this is how the judge normally conducts himself.

“It’s not just because it’s Kyle Rittenhouse, he does this in everybody’s case,” Terry Rose, told ABC affiliate WKOW.

“There is nothing wrong with it,” Mr Rose, said of judge Bruce Schroeder’s decision to allow Rittenhouse the draw the alternate jurors names out in his murder trial. “It does not tilt the case either way. When a defendant sticks his hand in the cylinder, pulls out a piece of paper, he can’t see what’s on that paper.”

Right-wing political commentator Dinesh D’Souza told Fox News on Wednesday that Kyle Rittenhouse’s homicide trial is being portrayed as “a kind of symbol of the Trump movement”.

“This isn’t just a trial about Rittenhouse,” he said. “In fact the prosecution early on was very eager to show him fraternising or associating with the Proud Boys.

“They wanted to try to make Rittenhouse a symbol for Trump’s America. By contrast, the rioters, the looters, the arsonists — this is Antifa. These are the people that the media has protected for a year.

“And if you were to read media accounts of this confrontation, you would never get a sense of who these people are or what these people were doing or the violence they were engaging in or the fact that they chased Kyle Rittenhouse and not the other way around.”

Claiming that assistant district attorney Thomas Binger is acting as “the apologist for the left-wing narrative,” D’Souza said: “They want to get Rittenhouse because they want him to be a stand-in, if you will, for the whole Make America Great Again movement.”

Conservative shock jock Jesse Kelly went on a bizarre rant about “man-hating feminists” running the country on Wednesday’s edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Arguing that the prosecution believes Kyle Rittenhouse “should not have stopped the street animals from burning down Kenosha”, Kelly said: “They believe they have a right before God, their communist God, to burn this country down.”

He was responding to Carlson, who asked Kelly, whether “you don’t have a right to protect your own life?”

“That’s the take-away they’re going to get from it, Tucker, because it’s their entire world view,” said Kelly.

“It’s hard for Americans to accept, it’s hard for me to accept where we are as a country. Where we are is people in positions of power now, they’re the crazed nut job that used to be on the street corner protesting, the man-hating feminist who used to hide in her apartment hammering Nutter Butters. These people are now CEOs, they’re district attorneys, they’re senators, they’re presidents, and that’s why you see this.”

“They genuinely believe Kyle Rittenhouse should not have stopped the street animals from burning down Kenosha, or any other city. They believe they have a right before God, their communist God, to burn this country down.”

“I love Nutter Butters,” responded Carlson. “I am sorry to say that. I am not defending feminism in any way but I can’t resist.

“So what’s our reaction to this,” asked Carlson. “You gotta think that the people watching this trial, no matter what the outcome is, will conclude you really can’t defend yourself in the country. Like, how could you?”

“I don’t think people want to hear what we have to do Tucker,” responded Kelly. “Because what we have to do is get out of Blue areas. You are not safe in area that is blue now in this country,” he said apparently referring to the states with Democrats in power.

“Not because of street mobs either because of exactly what you are seeing here. Because the people who have the power to ruin your life will throw you in a dark hole forever, they are now in positions where they can make that happen.”

He advised the Americans to get “to a red area, become an activist, run for DA, run for school board. Make it redder.”

“We are not in the year 2000, we are not even in the year 2010. These people are now desperate and are lashing out and they are going to hurt a lot of people on the right before they are gone.”

They also heard testimony from police, people who witnessed the shootings, the man who survived a gunshot from Mr Rittenhouse’s AR-15-style rifle, and Mr Rittenhouse himself.

Alex Woodward has the details.

Florida Republican representative Matt Gaetz on Wednesday said he might reach out to Kyle Rittenhouse to hire him as a congressional intern.

“He is not guilty,” declared the conservative lawmaker while speaking to Newsmax. “He deserves a not guilty verdict, and I sure hope he gets it because you know what? Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a pretty good congressional intern. We may reach out to him and see if he’d be interested in helping the country in additional ways.”

The anchor Grant Stinchfield responded saying that he “wants him here at Newsmax”.

“So maybe we’ll have to fight for him,” said the anchor. “I want him here at Newsmax. Maybe he can be a Stinchfield intern too.”

“You guys pay way better at Newsmax,” replied Mr Gaetz. “But there’s nothing like the Hill.”

Throughout the two-week trial, jurors reviewed more than a dozen pieces of video, including livestreams from that night, an interview Mr Rittenhouse gave moments before he fired his gun, body camera footage, and aerial video from the FBI.

Alex Woodward has more.