An apparent relative of George Floyd suggested that protesters should threaten jurors in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial — just like he recently threatened a judge presiding over a high-profile police shooting case.
Cortez Rice is a left-wing activist in Minneapolis. He has been described as George Floyd’s nephew by the Washington Post, his cousin by the International Business Times and as a close friend by other outlets. Whatever his relationship, Rice has become a central figure in Minnesota protest circles since Floyd’s death. He frequently spearheads rallies and draws attention from the mainstream media.
His most recent protest took place inside a private building that he believed to be the home of Judge Regina Chu. Chu ruled in August that the trial of former police officer Kim Potter, who shot Daunte Wright apparently by accident, will not be broadcast or video recorded.
After encouraging his self-described “gang” to gather outside Chu’s door, livestreaming his actions, Rice turned to his audience and began talking about the jurors in the Rittenhouse trial.
“We need the same results, we need the same results,” Rice said, apparently suggesting that people should also try to intimidate the jurors.
basically demanding pictures of the juries? pic.twitter.com/yoCEQJewnz
— oak_tree_upheaval (@oaktreeupheaval) November 7, 2021
Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two, in a claimed self-defense incident after he was charged by left-wing rioters during unrest in the town of Kenosha, Wisconsin. His trial is currently underway.
“I ain’t even gonna name the people that I know that’s up in the Kenosha, I mean, in the Kenosha trial, but there’s cameras in there,” Rice claimed. “There’s definitely cameras up in there and there’s definitely people taking pictures of the juries and everything like that.”
Some commentators and outlets have also suggested that Rice intends to dox the jurors if they do not convict Rittenhouse. The jurors are not sequestered, meaning they can easily learn of this potential threat — and Rice is a threatening man.
He was convicted of a felony after a “shooting incident” that left a woman with a bullet wound in 2016. He was already a felon at the time of the shooting but has benefited from Minnesota’s lenient judges, including Judge Chu herself, according to Crime Watch Minneapolis.
Can’t make it up.
Rice was convicted in 2017 on felon in possess’n of a firearm. The “mandatory” 60-mos sentence was stayed in a dispositional departure.
In a recent probation violation, Judge Regina Chu slapped him on the wrist.
Chu is the judge Rice is trying to intimidate. pic.twitter.com/KJosJIlpel
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) November 8, 2021
Presently, there is “no common law right of access to records of juror names,” according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
