Malcolm Henry
*This is a breaking news story. Check back to TFM for updates.
A verdict is in and the jury has found Kyle Rittenhouse as follows:
- First-degree reckless homicide: NOT GUILTY
- First-degree reckless endangering safety: NOT GUILTY
- First-degree reckless endangering safety: NOT GUILTY
- Attempted first-degree intentional homicide: NOT GUILTY
On November 15, Judge Schroeder dismissed a misdemeanor charge for possession of a weapon under age 18.
Throughout the trial, Rittenhouse’s defense attorneys had argued that their client acted in self-defense when he shot three men in August 2020 during riots in Kenosha over the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse killed two men — Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36 — and wounded another, Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27.
Meanwhile, prosecutors had argued that Rittenhouse provoked the attacks.
Via the Associated press, Rittenhouse, 18, began to choke up, fell to the floor and then hugged one of his attorneys upon hearing the verdict.
He had been charged with homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering after killing two men and wounding a third with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle during a tumultuous night of protests over police violence against Black people in the summer of 2020. The former police youth cadet is white, as were those he shot.
Rittenhouse could have gotten life in prison if found guilty on the most serious charge, first-degree intentional homicide, or what some other states call first-degree murder.
As he dismissed the jurors, Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder assured them the court would take “every measure” to keep them safe.
A sheriff’s deputy immediately whisked Rittenhouse out a back door through the judge’s chambers.
In reaction to the verdict, prosecutor Thomas Binger said the jury had spoken.
