Bruce Edward Schroeder[1] (born c. 1946)[2] is a retired American lawyer and jurist from Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
Schroeder was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Marquette University with a bachelor's degree in history and political science in 1967.
[4] Shortly after being admitted to the bar, Schroeder was hired as an assistant district attorney in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, under D.A.
[6] On August 17, 1972, Governor Patrick Lucey appointed Schroeder district attorney to fill the remainder of Scott's term.
Schroeder was appointed to fill the position by Governor Tony Earl in May 1983,[13] and was subsequently elected to a full six-year term in 1984 without opposition.
[18] Schroeder first came to national attention while presiding over the murder trial of Kenosha County resident Mark Jensen.
Prosecutors alleged he poisoned her with antifreeze;[19] Jensen's defense argued that Julie was depressed and committed suicide in an attempt to frame her husband after both had engaged in affairs.
A key evidentiary issue in the case was that Julie had spoken to a number of neighbors and police officers, had written letters, and left voice mails stating that she believed her husband was trying to poison her.
Schroeder initially ruled that he would admit the evidence at trial,[20] but following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Crawford v. Washington, Schroeder ruled that several of these letters, voicemails, and conversations were inadmissible because they amounted to "testimonial" evidence by a witness who could not be questioned by the defense, thus creating a violation of the defendant's sixth amendment right to question his accusers.
The Court returned the case to Schroeder then to determine if Jensen could be found to be responsible for Julie's absence by a preponderance of the evidence.
[26] Schroeder was again in the national spotlight in 2021 for presiding over the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men during the unrest in Kenosha in August 2020.
Prosecutor Thomas Binger reckoned that Schroeder had already admonished him thousands of times for calling someone a "victim" in other trials.
[28] Schroeder married court clerk Donna Jean Lane on September 30, 1972, at the St. James Catholic Church in Kenosha.