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KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS) — Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate is now in the hands of a jury, which will begin deliberations Tuesday morning, after prosecutors and defense attorneys presented their closing arguments on Monday in his trial over shooting three people, killing two of them, in Kenosha last year.
Deliberations will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, after jurors heard from more than 30 witnesses during two weeks of testimony. A total of 500 National Guard troops are standing by in case of possible unrest once a verdict is reached.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys painted starkly different pictures of the teenage gunman in closing arguments on Monday, with a prosecutor describing him as a vigilante with “no remorse, no regard for life,” and the defense team calling him “a 17 year-old kid out there trying to help this community.”
Rittenhouse faces five felony charges in the August 2020 shootings that killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, during a chaotic night of protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of Jacob Blake,
There’s no question Rittenhouse shot anyone. However, jurors must decide whether Rittenhouse fired in self-defense, as his attorneys claim, or was acting as a a vigilante, as prosecutors argue. The jury will be allowed to consider some lesser charges in addition to those prosecutors originally brought against him. Judge Bruce Schroeder said he would issue final rulings on Saturday about which lesser charges the jury could consider.
Kenosha County assistant district attorney Thomas Binger said Rittenhouse provoked the shootings, accusing the then 17-year-old of threatening protesters with an AR-15 style rifle before firing the first shots that night.
Binger said Rittenhouse “cannot hide behind self-defense” if he’s the one who instigated the deadly confrontations in the first place.
“If you created the danger, you forfeited the right to self-defense, by bringing that gun, aiming at people, threatening people’s lives, the defendant provoked everything. And if he does that, he has to exhaust all reasonable means to avoid a confrontation,” Binger said. “I think we can also agree that we shouldn’t have 17-year-olds running around our streets with AR-15s, because this is what happens.”
He also said, when jurors decide whether or not Rittenhouse’s actions were legally justified, they must ask if they would have done the same thing he did if they were in his shoes.
“When you consider what’s reasonable in this case, consider whether or not it’s reasonable for a criminal to be able to shoot himself out of a crime scene,” Binger said. “No reasonable person would have done what the defendant did, and that makes your decision easy. He is guilty of all counts.”
Rittenhouse’s attorneys, however, contended that Rittenhouse was defending himself against an angry mob.
“My client didn’t shoot anyone until he was chased and cornered,” defense attorney Mark Richards said.
Richards said Rittenhouse went to Kenosha that night to help a friend protect a car lot from rioters and looters
“Kyle was a 17 year old kid out there trying to help this community,” Richards said. “Ladies and gentlemen, this has been a rush to judgement.”
Calling Rosenbaum a “bad man” and a “rioter,” Richards said Rosenbaum was the one causing trouble that night, “and my client had to deal with him that night alone.”
“Mr. Rosenbaum was shot because he was chasing my client, tried to take his gun and carry out the threats,” he had made earlier, Richards said.
He also described Huber and Grosskreutz as “individuals working in a mob” when they confronted Rittenhouse moments later, without knowing exactly what had happened between Rittenhouse and Rosenbaum.
“What you were seeing was individuals acting as a mob – they are going to get their licks in on Kyle Rittenhouse, or as they see it, someone from the other side,” he said.
Earlier, Judge Bruce Schroeder handed the defense team a victory by dismissing a count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 against Rittenhouse.
While only a misdemeanor charge, it appeared to be the most likely count to result in a conviction for Rittenhouse, who was only 17 when he carried an AR-15 style rifle in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, and used it to shoot three men, killing two of them.
Defense attorneys argued Wisconsin state law has an exception that would allow 17-year-olds to openly carry firearms if they are not short-barreled rifles, with a barrel of less than 16 inches and an overall length of less than 26 inches.
Schroeder said the Wisconsin law was poorly written, and that the size of the rifle Rittenhouse carried meant he didn’t violate that law. Although prosecutors said they disagreed with the judge’s interpretation of the law, they conceded Rittenhouse’s weapon was not a short-barreled rifle, and Schroeder dismissed that count.
The dismissal of the gun charge against Rittenhouse leaves five counts for the jury to consider, ranging from intentional homicide to recklessly endangering safety.
