Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty of all charges
KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager who shot and killed two men and wounded another as violent protests against police brutality engulfed Kenosha last year, was acquitted of all charges Friday in a closely watched case that has amplified bitter national debate over guns, vigilantism and law and order.
As the verdict was read for each count, the 18-year-old quivered, sobbed and — on the fifth and final “not guilty” — fell to his knees.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the killings, faced charges including intentional homicide and reckless endangerment.
It took the jurors — seven women and five men — three days to reach their decision inside a downtown Kenosha courthouse, a capstone to a two-week-long trial that reignited the charged politics of the Trump era.
The August 2020 shootings came amid the racial justice demonstrations that swept the nation following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Rittenhouse became an instant celebrity among right-wing groups, who called him a “patriot” and “good guy with a gun.” They raised money — paying a large portion of his $2-million bail — and created mural images of him that flooded social media. Some supporters even donned new tattoos of the pudgy-faced teenager.
President Donald Trump refused to condemn the shootings and suggested Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense — the argument that Rittenhouse’s attorneys used to win his case.
Backers of Rittenhouse celebrated the verdict as a victory for the right of Americans to use firearms to protect themselves and their property.
“Self-defense is a God-given right, and Kyle defended himself,” said a statement by Dudley Brown, executive director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights in Loveland, Colorado. “We hope that Kyle will now be allowed to live a free and prosperous life, and that all Americans will understand that the 2nd Amendment isn’t about hunting — it’s about the right to defend oneself from tyranny and lawless criminal actors.”
Trump also released a statement: “Congratulations to Kyle Rittenhouse for being found INNOCENT of all charges. It’s called being found NOT GUILTY — And by the way, if that’s not self-defense, nothing is!”
Many on the left had argued that Rittenhouse had courted violence by bringing an Ar-style semiautomatic rifle to the Kenosha protests.
While President Joe Biden and other politicians said that the jury’s decision must be respected, some on the left expressed concern that the verdict could send a dangerous message.
“I worry that some will portray Rittenhouse as a hero and that it will encourage vigilantism,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of UC Berkeley School of Law. “We are at such a tense time in our society. I wish everyone would condemn what Rittenhouse did even though he was acquitted of a crime.
“A 17-year-old taking an AR-15 into a tense situation is a recipe for trouble,” he said.
Phil Haney, a 78-year-old Kenosha resident, one of several dozen people who had gathered outside the courthouse for the verdicts, said it left him “speechless.”
“It now gives people the sense they can run around with rifles and shoot people in chaotic situations,” he said.
The jury was not considering the issue of whether Rittenhouse should have been on the streets on Kenosha with a rifle. Instead, it had to decide the much narrower question of whether he was acting in self-defense each time he pulled the trigger.
Prosecutors portrayed Rittenhouse as a calculating gunman — at times describing him as an “active shooter” — who roamed the streets of Kenosha looking to spark violence.
“You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun, when you are the one creating the danger, when you’re the one provoking other people,” Deputy District
Attorney Thomas Binger told jurors.
But as the trial wore on, many legal experts came to believe that the prosecution would have trouble proving that Rittenhouse did not act in self-defense.
Video presented during the trial showed 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse through a parking lot before Rittenhouse shot him.
The second man Rittenhouse killed, 26-year-old Anthony Huber, could be seen swinging a skateboard at Rittenhouse’s head before attempting to grab his rifle in the middle of a street where hundreds of protesters gathered.
Moments later, Rittenhouse fired a single shot that hit Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, in the arm.