WAS KYLE RITTENHOUSE FOUND NOT GUILTY TRIAL

None of them were from the often-armed pro-police groups, among whom Mr Rittenhouse associated. ( Scott Olson/Getty Images)Ī class-action lawsuit filed in the Eastern District Court of Wisconsin alleged there were 'two sets of laws' for those who broke the curfew during the Kenosha protests.Īccording to the claim filed by Black Lives Matter activists, more than 150 peaceful protesters were arrested for breaching the curfew during the Kenosha protests.

The question before the jury was whether a reasonable person would have felt a threat to their life that warranted firing a gun as Mr Rittenhouse did, if faced with the same circumstances.įamily members of Jacob Blake continued to lead marches after the Kenosha shooting.

WAS KYLE RITTENHOUSE FOUND NOT GUILTY TRIAL

Nor did the trial examine in detail the political circus surrounding his actions. The question at the centre of the trial was not whether it was a good idea for Mr Rittenhouse to have gone to Kenosha. His ringtone was God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood - the same tune Mr Trump had entered the stage to at scores of rallies as president. Left-wing misgivings about Judge Schroeder were only amplified when his phone rang during the trial.

Prosecutors also abandoned an attempt to portray Mr Huber as a 'hero' for attempting to intercept Mr Rittenhouse.īut the court ruled it was open to defence lawyers to portray the three as looters, arsonists or rioters if they could prove it. The court changed his bail conditions to explicitly forbid him from associating with white supremacists, however, it ultimately ruled the jury could not be presented with evidence of his meetings with the group.Īnother blow for prosecutors came when Judge Bruce Schroeder ordered that lawyers in the trial not to refer to the two dead men and Mr Grosskreutz as 'victims'. Mr Rittenhouse begins running back towards a line set up by police about three blocks away but some of the crowd, believing he is an 'active shooter', follow. Video captures the crowd beginning to yell for somebody to stop him as he rushes away. 'I just shot somebody,' he says in a call to a friend. The chaseīystanders reacted swiftly to the gunshots, and a small group carried a fatally injured Mr Rosenbaum to a hospital that happened to be located across the street.īut Rittenhouse did not hang around to help. 'There was no space for me to continue to run to.'Īt the trial, prosecutors stressed the fatal round was a shot to the back, fired as Mr Rosenbaum fell forward onto the ground.

'I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun. 'As I'm turning around, Mr Rosenbaum is, I would say, from me to where the judge is, coming at me with his arms out in front of him,' Mr Rittenhouse said in sometimes tearful testimony. Kyle Rittenhouse testified Mr Rosenbaum was as far away as the judge, just before the shooting. The names Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Kenosha's Jacob Blake were also on the lips of demonstrators. While the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin was the flashpoint, his wasn't the only case that sparked fury over perceived racial injustice. In the US, the summer of 2020 was marked by sustained protests over the deaths of black Americans at the hands of police. Was it justified when he raised his rifle and shot three people? Chaos in Kenosha The split between Americans on the issue has reverberated in media around the world - but the jury that has just acquitted him was only asked to answer one question. To some Americans, he is a reckless vigilante aligned with racist groups and looking for a fight in a town brimming with social and racial tension.īut to others, he is an upstanding citizen who's come to protect businesses from protesters. Mr Rittenhouse says he's there to protect property, put out fires and offer medical aid to anyone hurt in the protests, but he's violating a curfew order by being on the streets, as are scores of other people on both sides of a deep political divide. Mr Rittenhouse has come to the streets of Kenosha on the third night of Black Lives Matter protests prompted by a police officer shooting and critically injuring black man Jacob Blake. Kyle Rittenhouse's case has sparked debate over vigilantism and self-defence in the US.

Was kyle rittenhouse found not guilty