Kyle Rittenhouse trial: Prosecution uses fight scene from Patrick Swayze film Road House in closing argument
Prosecutors use image from the 1989 action film to emphasise argument that Rittenhouse ‘brought a gun to a fistfight’
Prosecutors in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial inserted a bit of pop culture in their closing statement on Monday by showing the court an image from the 1989 action film Road House starring Patrick Swayze.
The image, which shows Mr Swayze’s character Dalton preparing to fight his rival Jimmy (Marshall Teague) in a bar, was meant to emphasise the state’s argument that Mr Rittenhouse “brought a gun to a fistfight”.
“Now the defence wants you to think Joseph Rosenbaum was there to attack the defendant,” prosecutor Thomas Binger told the jury.
“We’ll never know what Joseph Rosenbaum was thinking because the defendant killed him, so we’re just guessing. But let’s assume for a minute, yeah, Joseph Rosenbaum is chasing after the defendant because he wants to do some physical harm to him. He’s an unarmed man.
“This is a bar fight. This is a fistfight. This is a fight that maybe many of you have been involved in. Two people hand-to-hand, were throwing punches, were pushing, were shoving, were whatever.
“But what you don’t do is you don’t bring a gun to a fistfight. What the defendant wants you to believe is because he’s the one who brought the gun, he gets to kill.”
Many reacting to the pop culture reference on Twitter criticised the prosecution for undermining the seriousness of the case.
“Is the prosecutor trying to get an acquittal?” one critic asked.
At another point in his closing, Mr Binger caused a stir by pointing Mr Rittenhouse’s rifle directly at the jury.
The unsettling display was meant to show jurors how protesters would have felt when Mr Rittenhouse did the same on the night of the shootings – but many Twitter users said Mr Binger took it too far.
Catch up on some of the most surreal moments throughout the trial here.