The defense on Thursday rested its case in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial following nearly a week of testimony that saw the 18-year-old sob on the stand and say he fatally shot two men and wounded another in self-defense.
Rittenhouse is accused of killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and grievously injuring Gaige Grosskreutz after shooting him in the arm.
The then-17-year-old went to Kenosha with his AR-15-style rifle to protect an automobile dealership located near the heart of the August 2020 protests.
RITTENHOUSE TRIAL: WAS IT SELF-DEFENSE?
Prosecutors have tried to paint Rittenhouse as a “tourist” who wanted to insert himself in the chaos that unfolded in Kenosha following the shooting of Jacob Blake Jr., a black man shot in the back seven times by a white Kenosha police officer. They claimed he showed up carrying a weapon he was too young to legally buy and wasn’t trained to use.
Rittenhouse’s defense team spent the week trying to prove he feared for his life when Rosenbaum lunged at him, Huber hit him with a skateboard, and Grosskreutz pointed a pistol at him.
Following the incident, hundreds of people came to the small manufacturing city to protest police brutality. What began as peaceful protests quickly devolved into angry clashes that ended in two deaths, multiple injuries, and $50 million in damages.
In addition to counts of intentional, reckless, and attempted homicide and reckless endangerment, Rittenhouse is charged with possessing a firearm as a minor, a misdemeanor. A curfew violation charge was dismissed Tuesday.
The first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide charges come with a 60-year sentence. First-degree recklessly endangering safety charge is punishable by 12 1/2 years in prison. A weapons modifier carries another five years.
If he is convicted of the most serious charges, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
WHAT CHARGES DOES KYLE RITTENHOUSE FACE?
Lawyers for both sides asked Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to hold closing arguments on Monday, after agreeing that jurors would be too tired to deliberate Friday. The outspoken judge said he’d been “beaten into submission” and agreed only if they capped it at 2 1/2 hours each.
“I just may tell you mid-sentence to sit down,” he said.
Deliberations are expected to start Monday afternoon.
Rittenhouse’s lawyers completed their case on Day 9 of the high-profile trial, one day after Rittenhouse testified he had no other choice than to use his rifle to protect himself against an angry mob.
Schroeder became frustrated with prosecutors and admonished them for their courtroom tactics.
On Thursday, the defense demanded a mistrial with no right to a retrial after accusing the chief prosecutor of asking Rittenhouse out-of-bounds questions and for trying to introduce evidence the judge had previously ruled inadmissible.
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The trial has divided the public over whether Rittenhouse was a patriot taking a stand against lawlessness or a trigger-happy vigilante.
Twenty jurors were initially tapped, but Schroeder dismissed two — one for telling a tasteless joke about the Blake shooting as well as a pregnant juror who said she wasn’t feeling well.
