Jury in Rittenhouse murder trial to deliberate for second day
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[November 17, 2021]
By Nathan Layne
KENOSHA, Wis. (Reuters) - The jury in the
Wisconsin murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse will deliberate for a second
day on Wednesday, attempting to reach a consensus on whether to convict
or acquit the teenager for killing two men and wounding a third during
racial justice protests last year.
The jury of 7 women and 5 men from Kenosha, Wisconsin, deliberated for
about eight hours on Tuesday. They sent two notes to the judge, neither
giving any indication of the substance of their discussions on the first
day.
Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with homicide in the deaths of Joseph
Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and attempted homicide in the
wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, on Aug. 25, 2020. He also faces two
felony charges for endangering the safety of two men - one he shot at
but missed and another who was a bystander to a shooting.
The shootings took place in Kenosha during protests - marred by arson,
rioting and looting - that followed the police shooting of a Black man,
Jacob Blake, who was left paralyzed from the waist down.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Nov/17/images/ads/current/hartsburggrain_sda_2019.png)
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, has pleaded not guilty and took the
stand last week to argue that he only fired his weapon after the men
attacked him. He said Rosenbaum, the first person he shot that night,
grabbed the barrel of his semi-automatic rifle.
The jury has to weigh a large body of evidence, including surveillance
and cellphone videos, and is being asked to consider a total of four
lower-level charges in addition to the five main criminal counts.
Rittenhouse faces life in prison on the most serious count.
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![](../images/111721PIX/news_a1.jpg)
Kyle Rittenhouse sits next to the tumbler that he will use to select
the jurors who will not participate in deliberations during his
trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.,
November 16, 2021. Sean Krajacic/Pool via REUTERS
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutors
sought to portray Rittenhouse as a reckless vigilante who provoked a
series of violent encounters, first by raising his rifle in a
threatening way, then by shooting Rosenbaum which created an "active
shooter" situation that Huber and Grosskreutz tried to stop.
The defense described Rittenhouse as a civic-minded teen who carried
a medical kit in addition to his weapon and wanted to protect a
used-car dealership from the kind of property damage that Kenosha
had seen over two nights prior to the shooting.
The Rittenhouse trial has emerged as the most closely watched case
involving a civilian's right to self-defense since George Zimmerman
was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed
Black teenager, in 2013.
Like Zimmerman, Rittenhouse has become a polarizing figure, viewed
as heroic by some conservatives who favor expansive gun rights and
as a symbol of a reckless American gun culture by many on the left.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Mary Milliken and Sandra
Maler)
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