US teenager Rittenhouse acquitted of all charges by Reuters after divisive murder trial

Author: Nathan Layne

KENOSHA, Wisconsin (Reuters) – A jury https://www.reuters.com/world/us/states-own-witnesses-laid-path-rittenhouse-acquittal-2021-11-19 acquitted teenager Kyle Rittenhouse on Friday. the killing of two men in racial justice protests sparked a heated debate over U.S. gun rights and the limits of self-defense in a decision.

Jurors have found 18-year-old Rittenhouse guilty of all counts: two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide, injuring a third man, and endangering security in protests on August 25, 2020 in fires, incidents and looting. Kenosha-n, Wisconsin.

Rittenhouse burst into tears after the verdict and fell to the ground before helping him return to the chair, his hands trembling. The mother was also crying.

In the midst of a large law enforcement presence, a dozen protesters lined the stairs outside the courthouse after reading the verdict, some carrying placards in favor of Rittenhouse and others expressing despair. By the evening, the crowd had dwindled and there was no sign of unrest in the city.

“We are all very happy because Kyle can live his life as a free and innocent man, but in this situation there is no winner, there are two people who have lost their lives and that is not lost on us at all,” said David Hancock. A spokesman for the Rittenhouse family told Reuters.

Rittenhouse shot dead 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, and shot a bullet that broke part of 28-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz’s arm. Rittenhouse claimed self-defense.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who tweeted a video linking white supremacists to Rittenhouse during last year’s election campaign, said Friday he supported the jury’s decision and asked Americans to react calmly.

“While the Kenosha verdict will leave many Americans angry and worried, including me, we have to admit that the jury has spoken out,” Biden said.

Reactions elsewhere https://www.reuters.com/world/us/reactions-not-guilty-verdict-kyle-rittenhouse-trial-2021-11-19 showed deep partisan divisions in the country. The verdict was angered by many on the political left and was celebrated by supporters of gun rights.

“It makes no sense for our justice system to release an armed vigilante …” the Black Caucus in Congress said in a statement.

The thorny issue of race was also hanging over the case, even though Rittenhouse and the men he shot were white. Some black activists said Friday that U.S. police and courts would treat the teenager harder if he was black.

But the Conservatives saw the ruling as a validation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gives Americans the right to take up arms.

U.S. Congresswoman Madison Cawthorn, a Republican representative from North Carolina, said on Instagram, “Kyle Rittenhouse is not to blame for my friends. You have a right to defend yourself. Be armed, be dangerous and be moral.”

ATTACK AGAIN

After more than three days of deliberations, the jury confronted the duel narratives https://www.reuters.com/world/us/takeaways-most-dramatic-moments-rittenhouse-murder-trial-2021-11-19 defense and from the prosecution, they offered very different portraits of the teenager’s actions on the night of the shootings.

The defense argued that Rittenhouse had repeatedly been attacked and shot at men for fear of his life. After several nights of unrest in the southern city of Milwaukee, which was in Kenosha to protect private property, they said it was a group of people.

The violence occurred after police shot a black man named Jacob Blake, who was left standing at the waist.

The prosecution portrayed Rittenhouse as an irresponsible guard who caused violent encounters and showed no remorse for the men he shot with an AR-15-style rifle.

Wisconsin criminal defense attorney Daniel Adams, who followed the trial closely, said the verdict was “very dramatic but not entirely surprising.”

“Most of the lawyers who examined the evidence said that the state would not be able to clear self-defense without reasonable hesitation,” he said.

Reproduced and dissected live by cable television experts on a daily basis, the trial took place during a time of social and political polarization in the United States. Gun rights are valued by many Americans and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, even though the nation has a high rate of gun violence and firearms are available.

Rittenhouse, stated https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rittenhouse-called-stand-testify-own-defense-us-murder-trial-2021-11-10 that he had no choice but to open fire. to protect themselves, they are considered heroic by some conservatives in favor of a weapon that considers gunfire to be justified. Many on the left see Rittenhouse as a guardian and as the embodiment of an American arms culture that is out of control.

Protests against racism and police brutality became violent in many U.S. cities when black George Floyd was killed by police three months before the Kenosha shooting in Minneapolis.

The Rittenhouse verdict in Florida in 2013 for shooting a man named George Zimmerman in the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Florida put an end to the top U.S. civil defense case.

Trapped in so many cell phones and surveillance video that night in Kenosha, there were few basic facts in the discussion. The trial, meanwhile, considered whether Rittenhouse acted reasonably to prevent “immediate death or serious bodily harm,” a requirement to use lethal force under Wisconsin law.

Prosecutor Thomas Binger, an assistant prosecutor in Kenosha County, wanted to paint Rittenhouse as an attacker and repeatedly stressed that he was the only one who killed anyone that night.

DECISION RISK

Rittenhouse’s gun was loaded with 30 bullets in a full metal jacket, designed to fit their target. The jury watched some graphic videos, including Rittenhouse firing four shots at Rosenbaum, standing still, bleeding and moaning. Another video showed Grosskreutz screaming as blood flowed from his arm.

Rittenhouse testified in his defense last Wednesday at the most dramatic moment of the trial: the dangerous decision taken by his lawyers, considering his youth and the possibility of a tough cross-examination of the prosecution. Rittenhouse burst into tears at one point, and pointed out that he had acted out of fear for his life.

“I did what I had to do to stop the person attacking me,” he said.

His defense attorney, Mark Richards, said Rittenhouse had difficulty sleeping at night and was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. He said the defense team decided to testify after testing two versions of their case before the mock jury, one testifying and the other without.

“It was noticeably better when we put it on,” Richards told reporters after the verdict. “Wisconsin, if you don’t put a customer on the stand, you’re going to lose. Deadline.”

Rittenhouse testified that he shot Huber after he was hit with a skateboard and pulled out of a gun. He said he fired at Grosskreutz after the man pointed the gun he was carrying – a statement Grosskreutz acknowledged when questioned by the defense. Rittenhouse testified that he shot Rosenbaum after the man chased him and grabbed a gun.

Huber’s parents, Karen Bloom and John Huber, said in a statement that the verdict “broke their hearts.”

“It sends an unacceptable message that armed civilians appear in any town, incite violence and then use the risk they create to justify shooting people in the street.”