correction
An earlier version of this article misstated the date of the start of Kyle Rittenhouse's trial and misstated his plea. The trial started Nov. 1, not Nov. 12, and he has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The article has been corrected.
Update: Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted on all counts in Kenosha shootings after jurors deliberated for nearly three and a half days.
The murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse entered its final stretch Monday as closing arguments and jury instructions began in Kenosha, Wis., after two weeks of testimony in a contentious case that has underscored some of America’s widest political divisions.
Jurors will soon give their answer to a polarizing question that the public has debated for 14 months: Was Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, acting criminally or in self-defense when he shot three people, killing two, during a chaotic night in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020?
Rittenhouse, an Illinois resident, has said that he came to Kenosha to protect businesses after protests erupted in the wake of a police shooting of a Black resident named Jacob Blake. The prosecution has dismissed the assertion, saying Rittenhouse was a “chaos tourist” who acted recklessly.
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The trial, which began Nov. 1, has been marked by scrutiny of Judge Bruce E. Schroeder; heated arguments between Kenosha County prosecutors and Rittenhouse’s legal team; and key testimony from witnesses, including Rittenhouse and the lone survivor of the shooting.
Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Here are key points to catch up on the trial:
Rittenhouse could be found guilty of lesser charges
Schroeder finalized his instructions to jurors Monday, which included the possibility that they could find him guilty of lesser charges if they do not reach a unanimous verdict on several of the original counts but are not persuaded by his self-defense claim.
Rittenhouse, now 18, faces five felony counts for killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36; and Anthony Huber, 26; and for injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, 27. Schroeder on Monday dismissed a sixth misdemeanor weapons charge.
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If the jury cannot agree on the charge of first-degree intentional homicide in Huber’s death, the jury may consider one of two lesser counts of second-degree intentional homicide or first-degree reckless homicide.
The jury can consider a charge of attempted second-degree intentional homicide in Grosskreutz’s shooting, rather than a first-degree charge.
The jury heard from Rittenhouse directly
Rittenhouse gave his first full public account of the night of Aug. 25, 2020, when he took the stand last week. Defense attorneys hinted in opening statements that the jury would hear from Rittenhouse himself, but it was never guaranteed that he would testify. Legal analysts said a defendant taking the stand can humanize them before a jury but also expose them to risky cross-examination by prosecutors.
Rittenhouse’s testimony became one of the most talked-about moments of the trial after he dramatically broke down in tears as he began to describe shooting Rosenbaum. Rittenhouse sobbed so intensely that the judge called a brief recess, after which the teen returned, composed.
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“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Rittenhouse said on the stand. “I defended myself.”
The Chicago Tribune later fact-checked several aspects of Rittenhouse’s testimony and found that some of his assertions “were not exactly as presented.”
There was one courtroom blowout
The most tense moment of the trial came when Schroeder criticized Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger during his cross-examination of Rittenhouse. The judge said Binger was about to impugn Rittenhouse’s right to remain silent when he began to question Rittenhouse about why he didn’t speak up about the shooting until the trial.
Schroeder again rebuked Binger when he started a line of questioning related to evidence on which Schroeder had withheld ruling during a pretrial hearing. When Binger insisted it was his “good-faith feeling” that he could introduce the evidence, Schroeder snapped, “I don’t believe you.”
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Defense attorneys asked for a mistrial with prejudice — meaning Rittenhouse couldn’t be retried — as they accused prosecutors of trying to provoke a mistrial because things were going “badly” for them.
Share this articleShareThe blowup prompted criticism of the prosecution’s decisions and underscored Schroeder’s scrutiny of its side.
There was key testimony from the first shooting
Richie McGinniss, a videographer with the Daily Caller conservative website, provided testimony at the heart of key claims by both the prosecution and the defense. He was trailing Rittenhouse and Rosenbaum during their chase and had the closest view of how the shooting occurred and what led to it.
Prosecutors said Rittenhouse put McGinnis in danger, almost hitting him as Rittenhouse fired at Rosenbaum. That assertion is the basis for the felony reckless endangerment charge against Rittenhouse and was bolstered when McGinniss said he felt something on his leg and had to stamp his foot to check that he wasn’t hit.
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But he also testified that Rosenbaum lunged toward Rittenhouse and tried to grab his gun before the teen fired, buttressing the defense’s position that Rittenhouse’s firing in self-defense was reasonable.
A state witness gave the defense a boost
Grosskreutz was a key witness in the prosecution’s case, but legal analysts agree that while his testimony helped the state, it may have helped the defense more.
The highly anticipated testimony filled in details from the seconds between when Rittenhouse fatally shot Huber in the chest and struck him in the arm.
On the witness stand, Grosskreutz delved into how he feared for his life during the confrontation with Rittenhouse. But he acknowledged that he had was armed with a pistol that he had pointed at Rittenhouse in the seconds before the teen fired his rifle, an admission that bolstered Rittenhouse’s self-defense claim.
Broader Rittenhouse, Rosenbaum history was excluded
While many aspects of Rittenhouse’s and his victims’ backstories have been part of a contentious public discourse, little was allowed to reach the jury’s ears. In pretrial hearings, Schroeder rejected efforts by each side to introduce information he deemed unfairly prejudicial or irrelevant to the case.
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The judge blocked the defense’s attempt to include Rosenbaum’s sex offender history in the record and shut down multiple motions by prosecutors to introduce damaging information about Rittenhouse — including videos from the days and weeks before the shooting in which he is seen striking a girl and discussing how he wished he had his “AR” so he could shoot people he believed were shoplifting.
The jury also did not hear about Rittenhouse posing with members of the far-right Proud Boys group at a Wisconsin bar after he left detention on bond. During trial, Binger tried to introduce a photo from the outing that showed Rittenhouse in a “Free As F---” shirt. Binger said the inclusion would let him question Rittenhouse on the sincerity of his claims that he didn’t mean to hurt people, but Schroeder denied him, saying the material was irrelevant.
The judge barred calling men Rittenhouse shot ‘victims’
Schroeder sparked controversy days before the trial began when he ruled that prosecutors could not refer to the three men Rittenhouse shot as “victims,” deeming the term “loaded” and prejudicial.
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The men, however, could be called “arsonists,” “rioters” or “looters” if the defense could prove that they engaged in those behaviors, the judge said.
The ruling triggered critiques that Schroeder was biased in favor of the defense. Defense experts said the ruling was within the realm of the judge’s discretion, while those familiar with Schroeder’s court said it was typical of a ruling he makes in cases where self-defense is on the table and the very question of who was the victim is being posed to a jury.
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