You shall not pinch to zoom: Rittenhouse trial judge disallows basic iPad feature

Enlarge / Judge Bruce Schroeder reprimands Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger during cross-examination of Kyle Rittenhouse at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Wisconsin on November 10, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | Pool)

When Kenosha County prosecutor Thomas Binger cross-examined murder suspect Kyle Rittenhouse yesterday, he wanted to show Rittenhouse video on an iPad and use a touchscreen feature that phone and tablet owners around the world use every day: pinch-to-zoom.

Judge Bruce Schroeder's ruling? You shall not pinch.

Schroeder prevented Binger from pinching and zooming after Rittenhouse's defense attorney Mark Richards claimed that when a user zooms in on a video, "Apple's iPad programming creat[es] what it thinks is there, not what necessarily is there." Richards provided no evidence for this claim and admitted that he doesn't understand how the pinch-to-zoom feature works, but the judge decided the burden was on the prosecution to prove that zooming in doesn't add new images into the video.

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