Jury faced with some complex legal questions
KENOSHA, WIS. >> The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, which has played out over the past two weeks, has seemed at times to come down to a matter of deciding whether Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense when he shot three men amid demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or whether he was committing serious crimes, including first-degree intentional homicide.
But the 12 jurors who are expected to begin deliberating the case next week are actually tasked with a far more complex set of decisions: They must weigh six individual criminal counts that Rittenhouse has been charged with, each reflecting prosecutors’ claims about different portions of his behavior that night in August 2020. And beyond those six counts, the jurors may also be asked to weigh an array of less serious charges, the judge signaled after a debate over jury instructions between prosecutors and the defense.
Closing arguments are expected Monday morning in the trial of Rittenhouse, who was 17 when he came to Kenosha with a semiautomatic rifle amid unrest over a police shooting and fired eight shots, killing two men and wounding a third. The charges include first-degree intentional homicide, which is called first-degree murder in other states and is among the most serious charges on the books in Wisconsin. If convicted of that charge, he could face life in prison.
Judge Bruce Schroeder indicated Friday he would let the jury consider offenses less serious than the ones Rittenhouse stands charged with but did not formally announce what those charges might be.
“The lesser charge implicitly invites a compromise among the jurors,” said Michael O’Hear, a professor at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, who said requests for juries to consider charges less serious than the ones a defendant originally faced were common.
James Kraus, a prosecutor in Rittenhouse’s trial, told reporters that his request to allow jurors to consider lighter charges on several counts was standard rather than an admission of weakness in the case.
Closing statements could last up to five hours Monday, after which the jury is expected to hear instructions from the judge and begin deliberating.
In Wisconsin, officials aware of widespread attention on the case appeared to be bracing for a verdict. Gov. Tony Evers announced that he had authorized about 500 members of the National Guard to be ready outside Kenosha in case they were needed by local authorities.
Some essential facts are not in dispute after nearly two weeks of video evidence and testimony in the case. Near midnight on Aug. 25, 2020, Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, during civil unrest in the city. He then shot two other men who had pursued him, killing Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, then 26.
The question of whether Rittenhouse’s actions were crimes or legal acts may hinge on jurors’ understanding of self-defense law. Wisconsin law generally allows a person to shoot in self-defense if they reasonably believe it is necessary to avoid being killed or badly hurt. Jurors will get instructions on how to parse that law, including how to consider whether
Rittenhouse acted reasonably, but legal observers said the issue sometimes comes down to jurors’ personal views.
The jurors will be asked to vet the series of events that took place that night — with each charge attached to a separate episode.
Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree reckless homicide for the killing of Rosenbaum. The most serious charge he faces, first-degree intentional homicide, is connected to the fatal shooting of Huber. And Rittenhouse is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for shooting Grosskreutz.
Rittenhouse also faces two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety: One for shooting at but missing an unidentified man who was captured on video kicking Rittenhouse, and the other related to a videographer who thought at first that he had been shot, but was not.