Kyle Rittenhouse jury to start deliberations Tuesday after lawyers make closing arguments
Kyle Rittenhouse “provoked everything” during last year’s unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin by bringing a “gun to a fistfight,” prosecutors said during closing arguments of the divisive trial Monday.
Rittenhouse’s defense team, meanwhile, fiercely rejected that the teen was provoking others and instead said he feared for his life and was simply defending himself after being ambushed.
Jury deliberations are scheduled to begin Tuesday.
The 18-year-old, a resident of Antioch, Illinois, is on trial for killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, after an initial encounter then moments later fatally shooting Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, in the city of Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020.
“[Rosenbaum’s] an unarmed man. This is a bar fight. This is a fistfight. This is a fight that maybe many of you have been involved in. Two people were hand to hand, throwing punches, were pushing or shoving or whatever,” lead prosecutor Thomas Binger told the jurors.
“But what you don’t do is you don’t bring a gun to a fistfight. What the defendant wants you to believe is that because he’s the one who brought the gun, he gets to kill.”
The jury was shown a drone video that he said showed Rittenhouse pointing an AR-style rifle at protesters during the riots over the police shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake.
“If you created the danger, you forfeit the right to self-defense by bringing that gun, aiming at people, threatening people’s lives,” Binger told the jurors. “The defendant provoked everything.”
Binger argued that Rittenhouse “anticipated violence” when he traveled across state borders to the city.
“Was he genuinely interested in helping people he ran around with an AR-15 all night and lied about being an EMT? Does that suggest to you that he genuinely is there to help?” Binger said.
At one point, Binger demonstrated how Rittenhouse instigated the bloodshed by picking up the actual rifle in the courtroom.
“That is what provokes this entire incident,” he said.
But Rittenhouse’s defense team fiercely rejected that the teen was provoking others, noting that Binger didn’t mention the theory in his opening statements.
“Did you hear one word out of Mr. Binger’s mouth about provocation? You didn’t. But when his case explodes in his face, he goes to provocation,” lead defense attorney Mark Richards said.
Richards also blasted the defense’s characterization of Rittenhouse as an “active shooter,” claiming it was a “buzzword that the state wants to latch on to because it excuses the actions of that mob” that chased the teen after he opened fire.
“Everyone has heard of theater killings, the school shootings and things like that. Ask yourself the definition of an active shooter. It’s somebody with a plan to inflict multiple casualties usually out of anger or a discord group,” he said.
Richards said that the teen had been asked to help defend local used car businesses in the city when Rosenbaum began chasing him after a brief encounter.
“When my client shot Joseph Rosenbaum, he feared for his life,” he said. “He feared because of the prior threats to prior statements and the violent acts witnessed by my client.”
Rittenhouse, who was seen yawning in court, faces charges that include first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Ahead of giving the jury instructions Monday, Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a charge of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.
He agreed with the defense’s argument that the shorter barrel length of Rittenhouse’s AR-15-type gun meant that he didn’t violate the law.
In presenting the jury instructions, the judge explained that evidence must show “beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act lawfully in self-defense.”
“The defendant may intentionally use force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if you reasonably believed that the force used is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to his own person,” Schroeder said.
But the judge said that self-defense explanation doesn’t apply to the reckless endangerment charge regarding a fourth man, videographer Richie McGinniss, who testified that he was in the line of fire when Rittenhouse opened fire on Rosenbaum.
“Mr. McGinnis was not attacking him,” the judge said.
Rittenhouse was 17 when he traveled to Kenosha with a semi-automatic rifle and a medical kit and claimed that he was trying to protect businesses from the riots.
The jury heard how Rittenhouse shot and killed Rosenbaum in an initial confrontation in the streets and moments later fatally shot Huber and wounded Grosskreutz.
Rittenhouse, who has pleaded not guilty, faces charges ranging from intentional homicide — which carries a life sentence — to an underage weapons charge that could send him to jail for a few months if convicted.
Prosecutors have sought to portray him as the aggressor of the shootings, describing to the jury how out of all the people in Kenosha that night, he was the only one to shoot people.
Meanwhile, his attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense and only pulled the trigger on those who threatened him during the protests.
Rittenhouse lost his composure on the stand as he testified in his own defense for more than six hours, sobbing at one point as he described hearing a gunshot from behind him as he was being chased through the street by Rosenbaum.
“I did what I had to do to stop the person who was attacking me by killing them,” the teen said.
Schroeder on Monday allowed several lesser charges to be introduced on two counts.
For these lesser offenses to be considered, the jury must acquit Rittenhouse of the most serious offense as well as determine that he didn’t act “lawfully in self-defense.”
If the jury finds Rittenhouse not guilty of the first-degree intentional homicide charge in Huber’s death, they can consider the charge in the second degree as well as first-degree reckless homicide.
And should the jury acquit Rittenhouse of the most serious charge for shooting Grosskreutz, they may decide whether he’s guilty of attempted second-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
Schroeder on Monday warned prosecutors that he was “troubled” over their desire to use technology in closing arguments that would enlarge images taken from drone video footage.
“If it comes out at some time, the method used produces unreliable results, this is going to fall like a house of cards,” Schroeder said.
Names will be drawn Tuesday to determine which 12 of the 18 jurors will try to reach a consensus on whether he is innocent or guilty of the charges.
With a possible verdict looming, Gov. Tony Evers said 500 National Guard members have been activated in preparation.
