MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin – It’s been a year since the Kenosha, Wisconsin District Attorney’s office indicted Kyle Rittenhouse of killing two people and injuring a third during the riot that followed police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Since then, the case and its characters have sparked a constant stream of intrigue, outrage, and propaganda in both mainstream conservative and niche conservative media, where he has been occasionally portrayed as a patriot and gun rights symbol, as well as a self-defense hero and the boy next door.
Rittenhouse, now 18, faces five crimes, one misdemeanor and a curfew due to the events of August 25, 2020. With an AR-15 rifle, he killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Großkreutz. His lawyers say he acted in lawful self-defense.
Rittenhouse is also accused of jeopardizing the safety of a reporter for The Daily Caller who taped up close when Rosenbaum was shot and an unidentified man who Rittenhouse shot when the man tried to kick him.
Then and now:What Kenosha looks like a year after damage from protests and riots
What happened in that case? Many, though the final result is still months away.
The trial is slated to begin in Kenosha on November 1st.
When Free Kyle’s money poured in, Rittenhouse made a $ 2 million bail
Rittenhouse was arrested after presenting himself to the local police in Antioch, Illinois, where he was living at the time. He spent the first few months in an Illinois juvenile prison while attorneys tried to fight his extradition to Wisconsin.
That didn’t work out and Rittenhouse was relocated to Kenosha County Jail on October 30th.
Almost immediately after he was charged on August 27, his legal department and others began raising funds for his defense through social media. Money poured in from all over the country. Lawyers spent a large chunk of it on the failed extradition war but still managed to book $ 2 million to secure Rittenhouse’s release from prison on November 20, 2020.
Since then, Rittenhouse has lived in unknown residences in Indiana and Wisconsin. Prosecutors tried to arrest him for failing to include his exact address on public court records, but the judge agreed it was a security risk and agreed to keep it under lock and key, something few officials are aware of is.
After a bumpy start, Rittenhouse supporters are still selling “Free Kyle” branded goods to raise more money for his defense.
Where did he get an assault rifle from? Was it legal for him to wear it in Kenosha?
Prosecutors say Dominick Black bought the rifle at a Wisconsin hardware store in May when he was 18, but his friend Rittenhouse was only 17, too young to legally buy the gun. Rittenhouse, who worked as a lifeguard in Kenosha, told the Washington Post he used increased unemployment benefits during the pandemic to buy the rifle, a Smith & Wesson M&P 15, which sells for around $ 800.
Rittenhouse and Black said they would protect an automotive company from vandalism. Rittenhouse also said he was offering first aid to anyone injured during the protests.
On the one hand, Wisconsin clearly forbids anyone under the age of 18 from “getting armed,” but the Rittenhouse attorney cites wording in law that apparently provides an exception for 17-year-olds if the rifle they carry does not have an illegal abstract barrel. The judge is expected to rule in September on a motion by the defense to dismiss the charge of gun possession as a minor.
A judicial commissioner dismissed the defense’s argument on the matter at the December preliminary examination.
Dramatic videos are expected to be a central part of the process
Both prosecutors and defense say the many videos of the shootings play out strongly in their favor. But as many other cases have shown, video evidence can also be broken down and interpreted in different ways for a jury.
The video shows – and Rittenhouse has admitted – that he shot the victims, but Rittenhouse increased self-defense. His former lawyers said the defense was so obvious that the charge amounted to a political charge.
According to Wisconsin law, a person can only lawfully use lethal force if he “reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent impending death or grievous bodily harm to himself”.
When deciding on the necessity, a jury can examine whether Rittenhouse would have withdrawn further or would have withdrawn. He was clearly running away from Rosenbaum before shooting him. Rittenhouse supporters say he was trapped between some cars by other protesters and had no choice but to shoot when Rosenbaum tried to grab his rifle.
He approached the police after shooting Rosenbaum when others attacked him. After he had killed Anthony Huber and shot Gaige Großkreutz in the arm, Rittenhouse got up and walked up to the police with his arms raised, but they told him to leave the street.
Black drove him home to Antioch, Illinois, where he lived with his mother and sisters. He later turned himself in to the local police.
If self-defense is sought, it is up to the prosecutor to prove beyond doubt that it is not the case, that Rittenhouse’s assumption that he would be killed or seriously injured was not reasonable under the circumstances.
Rittenhouse attorneys have claimed that during his encounter with Rosenbaum he was particularly scared because someone nearby had fired a shot just before Rittenhouse decided to shoot. This person is Joshua Ziminski, who was with Rosenbaum shortly before he chased Rittenhouse, and who will now face his own charges from that evening on.
The longest serving active judge in the state hears the case
Bruce Schroeder, District Judge for Kenosha County, heads the case of Rittenhouse and also that of Black, who is tasked with supplying the rifle to Rittenhouse.
He has been on the bench since 1983, making him the state’s longest serving active district judge.
Schroeder has denied the prosecutor’s motion to arrest Rittenhouse and collect his $ 2 million bail. The judge ignored the activists’ requests to resign over the bail decision.
A carousel of defenders became a sideline
The history of the Rittenhouse Legal Department became a sideline to the case from the start.
Atlanta defamation attorney Lin Wood first joined the family and brought John Pierce, a Los Angeles civil litigation attorney, with a trainload of personal luggage. The couple have whipped social media and conservative outlets to raise funds, some of which went on Rittenhouse’s bail, but some of which are missing, according to Wendy Rittenhouse, Kyle’s mother.
Wood bowed from the Rittenhouse case, and the family fired Pierce in February.
Los Angeles attorney Robert Barnes claims he did civil and public relations work for Rittenhouse.
Mark Richards and Corey Chirafisi, veteran criminal defense attorneys from Wisconsin, handled the hearings and motions and would assist Rittenhouse with the trial.
So far, the case has been handled by Kenosha County’s Assistant District Attorneys Thomas Binger and Jason Zapf. But Zapf recently left the office, so another prosecutor is likely to team up with Binger.
Still pending
Prosecutors have asked for evidence that Rittenhouse went to lunch with several Proud Boys after a court hearing in January and later – as reported by The New Yorker – to Miami, where he was met by Enrique Tarrio, a group leader, at the airport was picked up.
Rittenhouse supporters say he has no connection with the Proud Boys or any militia group and went to Kenosha with his friend just to protect a car shop from further vandalism.
Schroeder must also decide on the defense’s motion to reject the allegation that Rittenhouse unlawfully owned a rifle as a minor on August 25, 2021.
Did Rittenhouse act in self-defense?
Rittenhouse’s supporters point to videos as evidence that he clearly acted in self-defense and that he should not have been charged. A former attorney named the case the most important self-defense and second amendment in Anglo-American legal history.
But prosecutors viewed the same video as clear evidence of ruthless homicide, even attempted and successful willful homicide.
Rittenhouse’s first victim, Joseph Rosenbaum, pursued Rittenhouse but was unarmed. His second victim, Anthony Huber, had attacked and hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard, and his third victim, Gaige Großkreutz, was armed with a pistol as he approached Rittenhouse.
Prosecutors must convince the jury that Rittenhouse was not reasonably afraid for his own life at the time the men were shot.
In Wisconsin, a person can generally use force to “stop what they reasonably believe to be unlawful”.
Lethal force may only be used if Rittenhouse “reasonably believed” that it was the only way to prevent his own death or serious injury.
If the prosecution convinced the jury that Rittenhouse provoked the other attacks by running around with a rifle and then shooting Rosenbaum, he would have to show not only a reasonable belief that he was in danger of being killed or seriously injured, but also that he has exhausted all other reasonable means to escape or to avoid this danger.
Follow reporter Bruce Vielmetti on Twitter: @ProofHearsay
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