Self-defense cleared Kyle Rittenhouse; will it work for a Black man who shot a white lawyer?

A bicyclist charged with killing a Milwaukee lawyer last year says he acted in self defense, and plans to rely on the same expert who testified for Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of killing two people during protests in Kenosha.

The cases differ in many other ways, but activists see Milwaukee's as a test of whether a Black man can rely on self-defense the same way a white vigilante teen backed by conservative and gun rights advocates could.

Theodore Edgecomb, 31, faces a count of first-degree reckless homicide in the Sept. 22, 2020 shooting of Jason Cleereman, 54, an immigration attorney and advocate. Edgecomb left the area, and prosecutors called the shooting a case of road rage, as friends and supporters mourned Cleereman.

Surveillance video from the area shows Cleereman could be viewed as the aggressor before he was shot. Edgecomb's lawyers call the original road rage narrative "distorted and inaccurate." They claim Cleereman was drunk, uttered racial slurs twice against Edgecomb, threatened to kill him and had a folding knife in his pocket.

A representative of Cleereman's family, Craig Matantuono, said they regret "having to respond in the public media to outrageous accusations and outright lies." He called it "beyond offensive" to say Cleereman was threatening or used racist language.

"Mr. Edgecomb did not act in self-defense, and this is not a close case," Mastantuono, a defense lawyer, said in a statement. He also said called comparisons to the Rittenhouse case, "in a blunt plea for racial equality," misplace.

"Every case is unique and judged on its own facts. This is a clear case of Theodore Edgecomb’s one-sided violence, armed murder and flight from justice, one that a controversial verdict in another county does not justify."

Reduced bail requested

At a hearing Tuesday, Edgecomb's lawyers will argue to reduce his $250,000 bail to $50,000.

"This would balance the community’s interest in public safety with Mr. Edgecomb’s potential innocence as a man that believed he was acting in self-defense when he fired one gunshot at a man who pursued him who was seeking to retaliate against Mr. Edgecomb," the bail motion reads.

Lawyers will also argue a variety of motions to allow or block certain evidence at trial, currently set to begin Jan. 3.

Top homicide prosecutor Grant Huebner represents the state. Edgecomb is represented by Aneeq Ahmad, a Milwaukee defense lawyer, and B'Ivory LaMarr of Texas.

According to records, Edgecomb was riding against traffic on Brady Street when he passed Cleereman, a passenger in a westbound car driven by his wife. She says she had to swerve and Cleereman yelled something at the cyclist.

While the couple was stopped at the light at North Humboldt Avenue, Edgecomb, who had turned around, rode up to the open passenger window and asked Cleereman if he had been talking to him.

After words were exchanged, Edgecomb punched Cleereman in the face, then rode away westbound on Brady. A few blocks later, video shows Edgecomb turn right onto the Holton Street bridge, followed a moment later by the Cleereman's Subaru, which pulls over just behind Edgecomb, who has ridden up onto the sidewalk.

Video shows Cleereman exit the car and go aggressively toward Edgecomb, who fired one shot before exiting, with his bike, down the stairs to below the bridge.

The Cleeremans had been drinking at a bar, and Jason Cleereman's blood-alcohol content was .12, and he also had THC in his system, according to court records.

Edgecomb fled the state

After the shooting, police ran pictures of a suspect taken from area videos and announced a $10,000 reward. Someone identified Edgecomb, but he was already gone.

Prosecutors say he went to Florida and Kentucky, where he was arrested March 4 after a traffic stop, when he gave a false name.

Jurors should hear about that, prosecutors say, because it proves Edgecomb was conscious of his own guilt. The defense says it would unfairly prejudice Edgecomb and is irrelevant since he admits to the shooting.

Given his claim of self-defense, they say, the only question for jurors to decide is whether it was reasonable for Edgecomb to use deadly force. Prosecutors have the burden of convincing jurors the decision to shoot was not reasonable.

At the time, Edgecomb was out on bail for two other charges, one a felony, one a misdemeanor. Conditions of his release in each case was that he did not possess a gun. That's why he fled, his lawyers say, not because he knew he was guilty of shooting Cleereman. Edgecomb is charged with two counts of bail jumping in addition to the homicide count.

Implicit bias instruction

Edgecomb's lawyers want the judge to instruct the jury on implicit bias, and make clear it is important to guard against it affecting the jury's decisions.

In their motion, defense lawyers wrote:

"Of great concern is that Mr. Edgecomb, a young black man on a bicycle, may be viewed or seen with biases or prejudices from some members of the jury, who may find him fitting a stereotype or profile of a black man with a gun: a gangster, a punk, a gang-banger, a degenerate, or a thug," the motion reads.

The defense has filed several letters in support of Edgecomb from his stepchildren, a Little League official and others, along with more than a dozen photos of him with his children in various contexts.

"To the contrary, Mr. Edgecomb has no prior felony convictions" the motion reads. "Coupled with the fact that the deceased in this case was a white male attorney, who was well-known within his community, the defense is concerned about racial biases and favoritism.

"What if the races of the parties were switched? Would that change how a juror feels about this case? Would the DA have even charged this case? These are questions for all of us to consider."

Because Wisconsin doesn't have a standard jury instruction on implicit bias, lawyers included an example of one from Arkansas. It reads, in part, " Each of us has biases about or certain perceptions or stereotypes of other people. We may be aware of some of our biases, though we may not share them with others. We may not be fully aware of some of our other biases.

"Our biases often affect how we act, favorably or unfavorably, toward someone. Bias can affect our thoughts, how we remember, what we see and hear, whom we believe or disbelieve, and how we make important decisions. Witnesses can have the same implicit biases

N-word, aggression

The state has listed possible character witnesses to rebut any suggestions Cleereman would use racist language or act as an aggressor. The defense wants to block any such character evidence, arguing that Edgecomb will only testify about what Cleereman did that one night, a factual question for the jury to decide.

Generally, evidence of a victim's character is limited unless a defendant says they were aware of a victim's reputation for violence and took that into consideration in their defensive actions. Evidence of a victim's reputation for peacefulness can also be admitted to rebut claims that the victim was the aggressor.

The defense says neither exception applies. Cleereman's claimed words and actions " could certainly be construed as racist or offensive conduct in the heat of the moment or in a fit of rage," Edgecomb's lawyers wrote, but Edgecomb does not claim Cleereman was generally racist or violent. Therefore, they argue, the judge should bar testimony about the victim's character.

Use of force expert

As part of Edgecomb's notice of intention to use expert testimony, his lawyers note that "when using physical force, decisions often occur in dynamic, rapidly changing situation(s) and under situations that are often tense and uncertain.

"Use of force events are analyzed under the totality of the circumstances and viewed from the standpoint of the defendant at the time of the defendant's acts."

The defense plans to use John D. Black, of Oregon, a longtime law enforcement officer, trainer and researcher on the use of force, who testified for Rittenhouse, who raised self-defense at his November trial. Rittenhouse testified he feared for his own life when he shot two men and wounded a third with an AR-15-style rife during protests in Kenosha in August 2020. The jury found him not guilty of all counts.

Black testified that while video helps establish, objectively, what occurred during a recorded incident, it doesn't reveal how each actor is viewing things at the time. People naturally focus on one or two things in a tense situation, Black said, and can't see everything in real time like a camera does.

Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Man charged with killing lawyer raising self-defense, racial issues