U.S. teen Rittenhouse acquitted of all charges after divisive murder
trial
Send a link to a friend
[November 20, 2021]
By Nathan Layne
KENOSHA, Wis. (Reuters) - A jury acquitted
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/states-own-witnesses-laid-path-rittenhouse-acquittal-2021-11-19
teenager Kyle Rittenhouse on Friday of murder in the fatal shooting of
two men during racial justice protests in a decision that re-ignited
fierce debate about gun rights and the boundaries of self defense in the
United States.
Jurors found Rittenhouse, 18, not guilty on all charges: two counts of
homicide, one count of attempted homicide for wounding a third man, and
two counts of recklessly endangering safety in protests marred by arson,
rioting and looting on Aug. 25, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse broke down sobbing after the verdict and collapsed to the
floor before being helped back into his chair, his hands shaking. His
mother also wept.
Amid a heavy law enforcement presence, several dozen protesters lined
the steps outside the courthouse after the verdict was read, some
carrying placards in support of Rittenhouse and others expressing
disappointment. By early evening, the crowd had thinned to a handful of
people and there was no sign of disturbances in the city.
"We are all so very happy that Kyle can live his life as a free and
innocent man, but in this whole situation there are no winners, there
are two people who lost their lives and that's not lost on us at all,"
David Hancock, a spokesperson for the Rittenhouse family, told Reuters.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Nov/20/images/ads/current/brandt_sda_FFARM_2020.png)
Rittenhouse shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26,
and fired a bullet that tore a chunk off the arm of Gaige Grosskreutz,
28. Rittenhouse claimed self defense.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who during last year's election campaign
tweeted a video that appeared to link Rittenhouse to white supremacists,
said on Friday he supported the jury's decision and urged Americans to
react with calm.
"While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry
and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has
spoken," Biden said.
Elsewhere reactions showed the country's deep partisan divisions. The
verdict was greeted with outrage by many on the political left and
celebrated by gun rights supporters.
"It is unconscionable our justice system would allow an armed vigilante
... to go free," the Congressional Black Caucus said in a statement.
The thorny issue of race also hung over the case, although Rittenhouse
and the men he shot were all white. Some Black activists said on Friday
the U.S. police and courts would have treated the teenager more harshly
if he had been Black.
But conservatives saw the verdict as a validation of the U.S.
Constitution's Second Amendment, which grants Americans the right to
bear arms.
U.S. congressman Madison Cawthorn, a Republican representative from
North Carolina, said on Instagram: "Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty my
friends. You have a right to defend yourselves. Be armed, be dangerous
and be moral."
REPEATEDLY ATTACKED
In reaching its verdict after more than three days of deliberations, the
jury contended with dueling narratives from the defense and prosecution
that offered vastly different portrayals of the teenager's actions on
the night of the shootings.
The defense argued that Rittenhouse had been repeatedly attacked and had
shot the men in fear for his life. They said he was a civic-minded teen
who carried a medical kit in addition to his gun and was in Kenosha to
protect private property after several nights of unrest in the city
south of Milwaukee.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Nov/20/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_OPENHOUSE_2021.png)
The violence followed the police shooting of a Black man named Jacob
Blake, who was left paralyzed from the waist down.
The prosecution portrayed Rittenhouse as a reckless vigilante who
provoked the violent encounters and showed no remorse for the men he
shot with his AR-15-style rifle.
Wisconsin criminal defense lawyer Daniel Adams, who closely followed the
trial, called the verdict “very dramatic but not entirely surprising.”
Most lawyers "who looked at the evidence had a feeling the state would
not be able to clear the threshold of disproving self-defense beyond a
reasonable doubt,” he said.
Live-streamed and dissected by cable TV pundits daily, the trial
unfolded during a time of social and political polarization in the
United States. Gun rights are cherished by many Americans and are
enshrined in the U.S. Constitution even as the nation experiences a high
rate of gun violence and the easy availability of firearms.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/112021pics/news_a33.jpg)
Kyle Rittenhouse reacts to the verdict during his trial at the
Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 19,
2021. Sean Krajacic/Pool via REUTERS
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
Rittenhouse, who testified that he had no choice but
to open fire to protect himself, is viewed as heroic by some pro-gun
conservatives who consider the shootings justified. Many on the left
view Rittenhouse as a vigilante and an embodiment of an
out-of-control American gun culture.
Protests against racism and police brutality turned violent in many
U.S. cities after the police killing of Black man George Floyd in
Minneapolis three months before the Kenosha shootings.
The Rittenhouse verdict ended the highest-profile U.S. civilian
self-defense case since a man named George Zimmerman was acquitted
in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager,
in Florida in 2013.
With so much of that night in Kenosha caught on cellphone and
surveillance video, few basic facts were in dispute. The trial
instead focused on whether Rittenhouse acted reasonably to prevent
"imminent death or great bodily harm," the requirement for using
deadly force under Wisconsin law.
The prosecution, led by Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney
Thomas Binger, sought to paint Rittenhouse as the aggressor and
repeatedly stressed that he was the only one to kill anyone that
night.
RISKY DECISION
Rittenhouse's gun was loaded with 30 rounds of full metal jacket
bullets, which are designed to penetrate their target. The jury saw
a series of graphic videos, including the moments after Rittenhouse
fired four rounds into Rosenbaum, who lay motionless, bleeding and
groaning. Other video showed Grosskreutz screaming, with blood
gushing from his arm.
Rittenhouse testified in his own defense last Wednesday in the
trial's most dramatic moment - a risky decision by his lawyers given
his youth and the prospect of tough prosecution cross-examination.
Rittenhouse broke down sobbing at one point, and emphasized that he
acted out of fear for his life.
"I did what I had to do to stop the person who was attacking me," he
said.
His defense counsel, Mark Richards, said Rittenhouse has difficulty
sleeping at night and was being treated for post traumatic stress
disorder. He said the defense team decided to have him testify after
they tested two versions of their case before mock juries, one with
him testifying and one without.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Nov/20/images/ads/current/2021_lda_Businessdirectory.png)
"It was substantially better when we put him on," Richards told
reporters after the verdict. "In Wisconsin, if you don't put a
client on the stand, you're going to lose. Period."
Rittenhouse testified that he shot Huber after he had struck him
with a skateboard and pulled on his weapon. He said he fired on
Grosskreutz after the man pointed the pistol he was carrying at him
- an assertion Grosskreutz acknowledged under questioning from the
defense. Rittenhouse testified that he shot Rosenbaum after the man
chased him and grabbed his gun.
Huber's parents, Karen Bloom and John Huber, said in a statement
they were "heartbroken" by the verdict.
"It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up
in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have
created to justify shooting people in the street."
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Additional
reporting Maria Caspani and Peter Szekely in New York, Mike
Scarcella, Tyler Clifford, and Brendan O'Brien; Writing by Nathan
Layne and Ross Colvin; editing by Will Dunham, Paul Thomasch,
Alistair Bell and Grant McCool)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Nov/20/images/ads/current/atlantabank_lda_SFARM_2019.png) |