So the defense has realized they have a muttonhead for a judge presiding over the case and are playing him like a fiddler:
·Weekend Editor
Thu, November 11, 2021, 9:21 AM
A lack of technical knowledge may have just influenced an important court case.
The New York Times the defense for shooter Kyle Rittenhouse incorrectly claimed that an iPad's pinch-to-zoom function could modify footage of the incident, "creating what it thinks is there, not what necessarily is there." That sparked a debate between lawyers and Judge Schroeder, who maintained the burden was on the prosecution to show the imagery remained in its "virginal state," not on the defense to prove manipulation.
The judge may have accepted the argument. He denied the prosecution's request for an adjournment and instead called for a 15-minute recess, suggesting the team could find an expert to support their claim in that space of time. They didn't, and
The Verge that the trial resumed with the jury watching zoom-free video on a Windows PC connected to the courtroom TV.
As you might imagine, the defense's claim played fast and loose with the truth. Pinch-to-zoom on all devices may use algorithms, but only to scale the image — it doesn't change the content itself. This was an attempt to prevent the jury from getting a clearer view of the action, not a genuine challenge to the integrity of the video.