Teenager extradited to Wis. for trial
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — A 17-year-old from Illinois accused of killing two demonstrators in Kenosha, Wis., has been extradited to stand trial on homicide charges, with sheriff ’s deputies in Illinois handing him over to their counterparts in Wisconsin shortly after a judge on Friday approved the contested extradition.
In his afternoon ruling that rejected Kyle Rittenhouse’s bid to remain in Illinois, Judge Paul Novak noted that defense attorneys had characterized the Wisconsin charges as politically motivated.
“This Illinois court shall not examine any potential political impact a Wisconsin District Attorney potentially considered in his charging decision,” Novak’s six-page ruling said.
Immediately after Novak issued the ruling at the courthouse in Waukegan, Ill., deputies with the Lake County Sheriff ’s Office picked up Rittenhouse and drove him to the Illinois-Wisconsin border, sheriff ’s office spokesman Christopher Covelli said. Rittenhouse was then turned over to Kenosha County sheriff deputies around 3:45 p.m., Covelli said.
The shootings happened Aug. 25, two days after a white police officer trying to arrest Jacob Blake shot the 29-year-old Black man seven times in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. Video of the shooting sparked outrage and helped spur on the protests.
The most serious charge Rittenhouse faces in Wisconsin is firstdegree intentional homicide, which carries a life prison sentence. He is also charged with attempted intentional homicide in the wounding of a third protester, as well as a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession. His lawyers have argued he was acting in self-defense.
According to prosecutors and court documents, Rittenhouse killed 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum after Rosenbaum threw a plastic bag at Rittenhouse and tried to wrestle his rifle away. Video shows that Rittenhouse tripped while trying to get away. As he was on the ground, 26-year-old Anthony Huber, of Silver Lake, hit him with a skateboard and tried to take his rifle. Rittenhouse opened fire, killing Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz who was holding a handgun.