by Erin Guo
18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two men and injured another during a protest against police brutality last year, was found not guilty on all charges against him this Friday.
Rittenhouse was acquitted of 5 charges: 1 count of first-degree reckless homicide, 2 counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, 1 count of first-degree intentional homicide, and 1 count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. The verdict, delivered on November 18th by Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, follows his claim that he acted reasonably in self-defense on the night of the shootings.
Rittenhouse testified that he feared for his life and didn’t start shooting until he thought he was in imminent threat, as he was just protecting himself from Gaige Grosskreutz (wounded victim), who pointed a gun at him, and Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber (the two victims) who were chasing after him and struck him with a skateboard.
Prosecutors argued Rittenhouse was responsible for going to the protest and entering a dangerous environment with a semi-automatic weapon. Prosecutors also pointed out that Rosenbaum was unarmed and that Grosskreutz testified saying he feared for his life and was trying to disarm the weapon from Rittenhouse but not kill him.
Legal experts say that prosecutors relied too heavily on evidence in the form of a drone video from the scene which they compressed and made too hard to analyze when sharing it with the jury. Both sides claim that they were not trying to kill the other person but were attempting to stop the attacking person and defend themselves.
Comments