Before Kyle Rittenhouse’s Murder Trial, a Debate Over Terms Like ‘Victim’

Legal experts said the term “victim” could appear prejudicial during self-defense cases. Mr. Rittenhouse shot three men, killing two, during protests against police violence in Kenosha, Wis.

A judge’s decision that the word “victim” generally could not be used in court to refer to the people shot by Kyle Rittenhouse after protests in Kenosha, Wis., last year drew widespread attention and outrage this week. But legal experts say that determining who should be considered a victim — in a case that hinges on Mr. Rittenhouse’s assertion of self-defense — is at the center of what jurors must decide in his trial, expected to begin next week.

Mr. Rittenhouse, who has been charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of two men and the wounding of another, is expected to argue that he fired his gun because he feared for his life. Prosecutors say he was a violent vigilante who illegally possessed the rifle and whose actions resulted in chaos and bloodshed.

The shootings occurred two days after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake while trying to arrest him on a warrant, setting off widespread protests over police conduct. The dual scrutiny expected at the trial — of Mr. Rittenhouse but also of the three people he shot — became clear this week when Judge Bruce Schroeder of Kenosha County Circuit Court reiterated a longstanding rule on criminal cases in his courtroom: that the word “victims” may not be used before the jury in reference to those killed or injured.