Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense attorney said he was “glad” his teenage client shot Joseph Rosenbaum following a night of violent unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.
“Kyle shot Joseph Rosenbaum to stop a threat to his person, and I’m glad he shot him — because if Joseph Rosenbaum had got that gun, I don’t for a minute believe he wouldn’t have used it against somebody else,” Mark Richards said during closing arguments on Monday. “He was irrational and crazy.”
Richards told jurors that Rittenhouse’s actions should be judged through the lens of a scared 17-year-old who feared his own gun would be wrestled away and used to kill him.
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He also accused Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger of being a “liar” who misrepresented evidence and “changed his strategy” to fit evolving narratives after his original case “blew up in his face.”
He also took Binger to task for labeling Rittenhouse “an active shooter,” claiming it was a “buzzword that the state wants to latch on to because it excuses the actions of that mob” that chased Rittenhouse after he opened fire.
Rittenhouse, now 18, is accused of fatally shooting Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26. He wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, after blowing off his bicep during the third night of riots in the small Wisconsin town on Aug. 25, 2020.
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Rittenhouse, who lived 15 miles away in Antioch, Illinois, faces five criminal charges ranging from intentional homicide to recklessly endangering safety. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted of the most serious charge, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed the sixth and most minor charge against the Illinois teenager: a firearm misdemeanor.
Richards called Rosenbaum a “bad man,” reiterated that Rittenhouse was forced to defend himself during a night of lawlessness, and implored the jury to “use common sense.”
Earlier in the day, Binger told jurors Rittenhouse was in Kenosha looking for trouble and accused him of being a “wannabe soldier acting tough,” saying he “ran around with an AR-15 all night and lied about being an EMT.”
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Binger told jurors during his two-hour and eight-minute closing statement that “the only person who killed anyone was Rittenhouse,” and he threw doubt on the teenager’s claim he was there to “genuinely help.”
The jury is likely to begin deliberations Tuesday morning.
