Defense rests at Kenosha trial of Rittenhouse, charged in 2 killings
18-year-old accused of opening fire at racial injustice protest
KENOSHA, Wis. — The defense rested its case Thursday at the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, setting the stage for closing arguments Monday in the shootings that left Americans divided over whether he was a patriot or a vigilante.
Rittenhouse’s lawyers completed their side of the case a day after the 18-yearold Rittenhouse told the jury he was defending himself and had no choice when he used his rifle to kill two men and wound a third in Kenosha in the summer of 2020.
Prosecutors have sought to portray Rittenhouse as instigator of the bloodshed, which took place during a chaotic night of protests against racial injustice.
Rittenhouse could get life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him.
The defense put witnesses on the stand across 2½ days; prosecutors presented testimony over about five.
After closing arguments, names will be drawn to decide which 12 members of the jury will deliberate and which dismissed as alternates. Eighteen people have been hearing the case. The panel appeared overwhelmingly white.
The protests in Kenosha were set off by the wounding of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer. Rittenhouse, then 17, went to Kenosha from his home in Antioch, Illinois, in what the former police and fire youth cadet said was an effort to protect property after rioters had set fires
and ransacked businesses on previous nights.
Rittenhouse is white, as were those he shot.
One of the final witnesses for the defense was use-offorce expert John Black, who testified that less than 3 seconds elapsed between the time a protester fired a shot in the air and Rittenhouse opened fire with his rifle.
Black took the stand as part of an effort by Rittenhouse’s lawyers to show he had reason to fear for his life and acted in self-defense.
The defense has suggested to the jury that the relevant timeframe for determining whether Rittenhouse’s use of force was reasonable consists of just a few minutes around the shootings.
Black said it took 2 minutes, 55 seconds from the time the first man who was shot that night, Joseph Rosenbaum, chased Rittenhouse across a car lot to the time Rittenhouse approached police after the shootings.
Prosecutors have stressed a much longer window, saying the events occurred over hours, starting
with Rittenhouse’s decision to go to a volatile protest with a rifle.
On Wednesday, Rittenhouse spent most of the day on the stand giving his account of what happened in those frenzied minutes, declaring: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself.”
Rittenhouse testified that he heard a gunshot directly behind him as he was being chased by Rosenbaum, but also that he never saw Rosenbaum with a gun. Authorities said the shot was a bullet fired into the air by someone else in the crowd.
On Thursday, Black testified that almost 3 seconds elapsed between that shot and the first one fired by Rittenhouse.
At one point Wednesday, his lawyers demanded the judge declare a mistrial and bar Rittenhouse from being retried, accusing the chief prosecutor of asking Rittenhouse out-of-bounds questions.
Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder did not immediately rule on the request and pressed on with the case.