Man Behind 'Call To Arms' Post Wants Off Rittenhouse Witness List

KENOSHA COUNTY, WI — A man who prosecutors said posted a "call to arms" for the night an armed Kyle Rittenhouse traveled from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha says he does not want to be a witness during the teen's upcoming trial.

Currently, the Kenosha County State's Attorney's Office has 180 witnesses on its list for the trial, which is set to start Nov. 1, according to court documents. Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, use of a dangerous weapon and attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, of Kenosha, and Anthony Huber, 26, of Silver Lake, Wisconsin, and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, of West Allis, Wisconsin.

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Kevin Mathewson, a former Kenosha alderman, recently requested an investigation by the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Office of Lawyer Regulation into Thomas Clair Binger, the district attorney in Kenosha County. The office is responsible for grievances relating to lawyer misconduct, conducting investigations and prosecuting violations of lawyer ethics rules.

Prosecutors said Mathewson created a Facebook page, the Kenosha Guard, and in August 2020, amid civil unrest and protests in his city following the shooting of Jacob Blake, used it to post a "call to arms."

"Any patriots willing to take up arms and defend out [sic] City tonight from the evil thugs?" Mathewson wrote, according to prosecutors. "Nondoubt [sic] they are currently planning on the next part of the City to burn tonight!"

It's not clear if Rittenhouse went to Kenosha because of Mathewson's post. But at least two of the people Rittenhouse was with on the night of the shootings told the Federal Bureau of Investigations they saw Mathewson's message, and "it prompted them to come down from West Bend to Kenosha that night," Binger wrote in an Oct. 18 letter filed with the Kenosha County courts.

Mathewson, in his OLR complaint, claimed that including his name on the state's witness list was meant to "embarrass him and burden him." The state investigator also looked into an allegation by Mathewson that Binger said he hated him and was looking for "something to charge" him with.

Investigators found the claims to be unfounded, according to court documents.

"You have been quoted in local and national news stories discussing your connection to the August 25, 2020, shootings. There is insufficient evidence to support an allegation that Atty. Binger named you as a potential witness for no other purpose than to embarrass or burden you," an office of lawyer regulation investigator wrote in the Oct. 4 letter to Matthewson.

Mathewson's complaint will not be forwarded for a formal investigation since there was an "insufficient basis to proceed," according to OLR investigators. Mathewson has 30 days to request a review of the decision.

Meanwhile, while he was included on the witness list, Mathewson has not been subpoenaed to testify. Prosecutors are still working to narrow their witness list ahead of the trial, Binger wrote in a letter filed Monday in Kenosha County courts.

Rittenhouse is expected to appear for a motion hearing on Monday. Jury selection in his trial is set to start Nov. 1.

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