We shall see about the jury. I hope you’re right. Although there can be some real “Einsteins” put on a jury to be receptive to the most inane arguments by a prosecution or a defense. In this case some of the prosecutions arguments are that Rittenhouse raised his gun at some point in the evening, therefore provoking the attack, so even if he ran away from confrontations he couldn’t use deadly force to stop multiple potentially deadly assaults from people chasing him because of the supposed initial “antagonistic act” like that or putting out a fire. So Rosenbaum chasing after him and lunging for Rittenhouse’s rifle while foaming at the mouth with anger should be met with non lethal force. And the subsequent mob chasing after him( to make a citizen’s arrest?)without knowing all the facts about the first shooting and trying to foot stomp him in the head, head smash him with a skateboard and a handgun pointed at him by another should be allowed without any self defense.It's doubtful this judge would be intimidated by the threat of more riots. He probably sees where this case is headed and would rather it go to the jury, which in all likelihood will render a "not guilty" verdict on all the felony charges and maybe even the misdemeanor gun charge. Local and state authorities have already put the National Guard on standby in anticipation of any civil unrest that might result from a not guilty verdict.
Keep in mind this jury is composed of residents of Kenosha, who lived through several nights of rioting, looting and property destruction that amounted to over 50 MILLION DOLLARS to their community. Each one of these people was very likely effected directly or indirectly by this mayhem, which the local authorities did little to control or put down. Although it's pure speculation, these people will probably hold little sympathy for the three criminals who were part of these rioters and were caught on video attacking Rittenhouse who was obviously not the aggressor in any of the three situations.
One last thought: it hasn't been widely reported, but Rittenhouse's father, grandmother and other family members live in Kenosha, so he does have connections to the community. He lives with his mother in Antioch, IL which is only 15-20 miles away, about a 30 minute drive. People in these smaller communities know or know of each other. There's likely to be more sympathy for him among the jury that's completely different from the mainstream media and the Twitter mob.
Regarding the judge. While I do like him and is trying to be fair, he seems to be mostly a loud bark and no bite. He’ll get really really mad at the slick tricks the prosecutors employ, but won’t take action on it.
The prosecutor apparently has been before this judge hundreds of times so he knows what he can get away with and just yank his chain, let him get angry, and then chuckle to himself with knowing glee that nothing will be done.