These 12 chairs in Judge Schroeder’s jury box will be slowly filled tomorrow starting at 9am.
The man who was alleged to start a fire and shoot a gun during the Kenosha riots of 2020 will stand trial. Jury selection will begin in front of Judge Bruce Schroeder. KCE has been designated as one of the pool photographers and will be in the courtroom for most of the trial.
For the prosecution, T. Clair Binger will be at the state’s table. He was the prosecutor to unsuccessfully prosecute Rittenhouse. “It feels weird suddenly rooting for Binger after all the sh.t he put out.” said Elle Carter, an avid follower of the Rittenhouse case who only lives an hour away. “But Ziminski is one of the (if not the main) villain that night so it’s worth conceding for this time around.”
Ziminski has a very long and very violent conviction record. He has been to jail many times to serve sentences. But, like many other products of progressive prosecutors like Kenosha DA Mike Graveley (D) and Racine DA Patricia Hanson, he has no felony convictions. That’s right. Every time he has been charged with a felony, he has gotten sweet deals to plead down to misdemeanors.
03/01/2011 Violate/Harassment Restraining Order/Rptr Racine 10CM2817
03/01/2011 Violate/Harassment Restraining Order/Rptr, Disorderly Conduct/Rptr Racine 10CM2749
06/12/2008 Carrying Concealed Weapon Bail Jumping Racine 07CM3599
02/06/2007 Disorderly Conduct While Armed Racine 06CM3562
09/21/2006 Bail Jumping Racine 06CM697
09/21/2006 Carrying Concealed Weapon Racine 06CM346
08/22/2005 Possession of THC Racine 05CM1515
01/03/2003 Misd Disorderly Conduct Racine 02CF1066
**INCARCERATED: 12/20/2007 – 01/02/2008; 05/25/2011 – 05/26/2011**
10/04/2016 – 01/10/2017 Hit & Run – Property Damage Kenosha 16CT692
August 25, 2020 The night of Kyle Rittenhouse
Joshua Ziminski and his wife Kelly Ziminski were rioting on 8/25/2020, according to prosecutors. This is obvious to all of us who watched the Rittenhouse trial. He carried a pistol most of the night in his hand with his finger on the trigger. He is accused of setting fires. He is the man who shot his pistol first, only seconds before Kyle lawfully shot and killed Joseph Resenbaum in self-defense. Testimony during the trial was inconclusive at where he was shooting. This shot may have been what started this all. Kenosha Police did good work and identified Ziminski as the shooter and arrested him on October 7, 2020. They asked DA Michael Graveley and T. Clair Binger to charge him with bail-jumping, resisting and obstructing an officer, disorderly conduct, and 2nd degree recklessly endangering safety. The charges related to an arson investigation. So police at least suspected him of arson at this point.
What did Graveley and Binger do? They charged Ziminski with disorderly conduct only on October 9, 2020. This is a maximum sentence of 9 months in jail.
What about the rest of the charges? They told KPD to proverbially pound sand. All that police work for nothing. We wrote articles about this miscarriage of justice and eventually, Ziminski was charged with obstructing an officer and curfew on December 8, 2020 only after the DA’s office took a lot of political heat. Still no felonies. Finally, Binger got the order from Graveley to charge Ziminski with arson. Binger filed the arson charge on January 26, 2021 but dismissed the curfew charge, oddly – as they were still perusing curfew charges against Rittenhouse.
Domestic Abuse Charges
Four months before the Rittenhouse shootings, on June 7, 2020, Racine police and prosecutors say Joshua punched his wife Kelly in the face while driving with their two children in the back seat. A warrant was issued for his arrest on June 18, 2020. He was charged with two counts of domestic abuse. This case was scheduled for trial. Only four days after the Rittenhouse verdict was reached, Racine DA Patricia Hanson gave the order to dismiss the two domestic abuse charges without explanation. We asked her why she dismissed these charges. She didn’t respond to our repeated requests for comment. She never does.
A similar thing happened a week before the Rittenhouse trial. A progressive Judge named Jack Davila dismissed Gaige Grosskreutz’s second DUI. When a witness or defendant is questioned during a jury trial, the fact that they have open criminal cases can be brought up. Now that Ziminski’s domestic abuse charges are dismissed, the prosecution can’t ask about them during his trial on January 31, 2022.
Ziminski, if convicted on all charges, faces 3.5 years inside a state prison. Judge Schroeder is tough on sentencing and might just give this career criminal the max.
Below is the criminal complaint:
3 Responses
Should at a min be reckless endangering safety. How does he not get charged with that
Thank you so much for covering this trial. It honestly is the next chapter in the Rittenhouse story and would be nice to get Ziminski’s version of events that night.