NOTE: NBC Chicago will provide a live feed from the courtroom as available throughout the trial. Watch live in the player above.
The jury in Kyle Rittenhouse's trial still has not reached a verdict after a third day of deliberations, with Judge Broce Schroeder dismissing the jury just after 4 p.m.
Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed the jury for the day just before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, with the panel not coming to a decision on the five counts Rittenhouse is facing in connection with the case.
The day started with a police investigation after a person claiming to be affiliated with MSNBC was suspected of trying to photograph jurors in the Rittenhouse trial Wednesday night.
In response, Judge Schroeder addressed the incident in court, and told reporters that police stopped the man after he went through a red light while driving near the jury bus, which transports jurors to an undisclosed location during the trial.
The man was issued a ticket for violating a traffic control signal.
A spokesperson for NBC News said in a statement that a freelancer was issued a traffic citation in Kenosha during the incident.
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," the statement read. "We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with the authorities on any investigation.”
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Both police and the judge said the matter is under investigation, but MSNBC is no longer permitted in the courtroom during the trial, Schroeder ruled.
"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 a jury bus - that is a very extremely serious matter and will be referred to the proper authorities for further action," Schroeder said in addressing the courtroom.
Following that announcement, proceedings carried on slowly Thursday, with lawyers and officials milling around the courtroom.
Outside the courtroom, protesters on both sides of the case continued to demonstrate, with Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth handing out cookies and coffee “for peace” outside of the courthouse.
Jurors will return for deliberations on Friday morning.
Rittenhouse still faces five counts in the case, after an illegal weapons charge was dismissed by Judge Bruce Schroeder.
Rittenhouse, now 18, was in Kenosha with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to protect property from the damaging demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer last summer.
While Rittenhouse is white, as were those he shot, the case has stirred debate over vigilantism, the right to bear arms and the unrest that erupted around the U.S. that summer over the killing of George Floyd and the shooting of Blake.
Rittenhouse testified during the trial that he acted in self-defense. Wisconsin’s self-defense law allows someone to use deadly force only if “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm,” and the jury has been tasked with deciding whether Rittenhouse believed he was in such peril, and whether that belief was reasonable under the circumstances.
Here are the latest updates from the courthouse:
-The jury was sent home for the day at approximately 4 p.m., according to reporters in the courtroom.
-- Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth seen handing out cookies and coffee "for peace" outside the courthouse.
"The goal is to show everybody we're on the same page," he said. "People are going to be voicing their opinion but we're here to do it together, we're here to do it hopefully peacefully."
-- Police are investigating after a person claiming to be affiliated with a national media outlet was suspected of trying to photograph jurors in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial Wednesday night.
-- Jury deliberations resume for a third day at about 9:15 a.m.
-- Just before 4:30 p.m., the jury was dismissed for the day. Court will reconvene at 9 a.m. Thursday.
-- Defense is bringing up the mistrial motion again. Now the motion is no longer without prejudice. That means the state can re-bring the case.
They say it is the only way for the playing field to be leveled.
“We got a compressed version that was not at the quality that the state has,” says the defense about the drone video introduced in the case.
Judge says the matter doesn’t have the urgency until the jury requests the drone video…even though its been shown in open court.
-- Big holdup in Rittenhouse trial. While discussing the drone video that is at the heart of the mistrial motion, there was a question about copying video from a phone to a laptop.
The judge now says resolving the dispute will require reopening the evidence and an expert witness. That could stop deliberations in their tracks
-- Jurors will be allowed to view video in courtroom as many times as they want.
-- Jury asks: "Do we view videos in private or in the courtroom?"
Judge responds: “Now my nightmare has come true.”
Prosecutors say it must be done in the courtroom.
The defense says it has a real problem with the jury viewing the drone footage. It reminds the judge of a pending mistrial motion.
Mark Richards says the defense did not get a full download of the drone video until Saturday, after the evidence phase of the trial had closed.
Judge says he hasn’t had a chance to read the motion to dismiss. The state has yet to respond. Judge Bruce Schroeder says he wonders why an expert quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called his choice not to render a verdict yet “odd.”
He also discussed his choice to avoid referring to the three people shot as "victims" as well as the decision to let the defendant randomly pick the alternates.
He says that decision dates back to a trial he had in Racine when a clerk picked the only Black name out of a tumbler as the alternate. Now, he says he has an “almost universal policy” about having the defendant pick the alternates.
-- Jury has a question. They are asking the lawyers to come back to the courtroom.
-- A man who spent Tuesday walking around with a megaphone in one hand and a dog in the other brought an AR-15 rifle to a protest on the stairs of the courthouse Wednesday morning.
He was approached and detained by the Kenosha County Sheriff, who examined his documentation to see if he had the right to carry a weapon. No violence has been reported. The man was ultimately released and walked away.
More Coverage of the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial
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