Trial delayed in deadly Wisconsin protest shooting

KENOSHA, Wis. — The trial of an 18-year-old from Illinois accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin was pushed back Wednesday by seven months and could be delayed even longer.

Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial was scheduled to begin March 29, but both sides told a judge that they needed more time to prepare. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder set a Nov. 1 trial start date, with a May 17 status hearing.

Rittenhouse faces multiple felony counts, including reckless homicide and reckless endangerment. He also faces a misdemeanor count of being a minor in possession of a firearm; he was 17 at the time of the shooting.

Rittenhouse appeared with his attorney during the court hearing broadcast over Zoom. He spoke only when the judge asked him whether he had any problem with the delay, which would push his trial start to over a year after the shootings.

“No, your honor,” Rittenhouse said. He was seated behind his attorney and wearing a mask.

The judge cautioned that the trial could be pushed back even further, saying the

November date was “not written in stone.”

Assistant Dist. Atty. Thomas Binger said both sides needed more time, citing a “number of outstanding issues,” including DNA testing.

Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, agreed to aiming for a fall trial.

“We’re interested in moving this matter forward, but whatever the court decides, we’ll abide by,” he said.

Prosecutors say Rittenhouse, who is white, traveled to Kenosha from his home in Antioch, Ill., on Aug. 25 after a local militia posted an online message saying it needed help protecting businesses from protesters.

Kenosha was in the throes of several nights of chaotic protests after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back after responding to a report of a domestic disturbance. The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.

Rittenhouse opened fire on protesters Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz with an AR-15-style rifle, killing Rosenbaum and Huber and wounding Grosskreutz.

Grosskreutz and his attorney also attended the hearing but did not speak.

Rittenhouse has said that he fired in self-defense after the three protesters attacked him.

Police let the teenager walk through their lines after the shootings, even though he still had his rifle slung over his shoulder and protesters were screaming that he had just shot three people.

Conservatives have rallied around Rittenhouse, painting him as a gun rights hero and raising $2 million for his bail last November.

Black Lives Matter supporters have portrayed him as a trigger-happy white supremacist.

Richards told the judge last month that Rittenhouse had received threats and had moved into an undisclosed safe house.