The assault-style rifle and ammunition Kyle Rittenhouse used in self-defense to kill two people and wound another during the 2020 Kenosha riots will be destroyed by the state and not returned to the teenager as requested, a Wisconsin judge ruled Friday.
Judge Bruce Schroeder, the same judge who presided over Rittenhouse’s criminal trial last year, said prosecutors and defense attorneys will be given video footage of the destruction, which is likely to take place in April.
Rittenhouse, who was not at the hearing, was found not guilty in November on all charges related to the fatal shootings in a landmark case that captivated and divided much of the nation.
His attorney, Mark Richards, filed a motion on Jan. 19 asking prosecutors to return Rittenhouse’s rifle, ammunition, mask, and some of the clothing he was wearing the night of the shootings. Some of Rittenhouse’s clothing has already been returned.
KYLE’S LAW: TENNESSEE SELF-DEFENSE BILL PRESENTED IN RITTENHOUSE’S HONOR
Richards and David Hancock, a spokesman for the now-19-year-old, said Rittenhouse wanted to destroy the rifle himself and trash the rest of the items so they cannot be used to glorify the shootings.
The AR-15-style rifle Rittenhouse used was purchased for him by his friend Dominick Black because he was too young to buy a firearm legally under Wisconsin law.
Black agreed that the gun would become Rittenhouse’s property on his 18th birthday, Jan. 3, 2021, according to the motion. Black pleaded no contest to two citations last month for contributing to the delinquency of a minor in exchange for prosecutors dropping two felony charges of intent to sell a dangerous weapon to a person younger than 18.
Rittenhouse’s case was a political lightning rod from the start that challenged the doctrine of self-defense, the right to protest, and the areas in between.
Rittenhouse was charged in the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26. He also wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, shooting him in the arm.
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A jury returned a not guilty verdict after deliberating for 3 1/2 days in a trial that fueled contentious debates across media platforms as well as confrontations between protesters outside the courtroom.
Since his acquittal, conservatives across the country have praised Rittenhouse, saying he was protecting not only himself but defending Kenosha from militants hellbent on seeing the city burn. Liberals have painted him as a trigger-happy vigilante who got away with a crime.
