Jury Deliberations To Continue In Kyle Rittenhouse Case

KENOSHA, WI —Jury deliberations will continue Thursday in the Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial.

The jury panel, which is made up of seven men and five women, has spent 16 hours discussing the case since deliberations began Tuesday morning. They are tasked with deciding whether Rittenhouse acted in self-defense in the shootings of three protesters — two fatally — on Aug. 25, 2020.

On Monday, defense attorneys filed a motion for mistrial with prejudice. On Wednesday, defense attorneys requested a mistrial without prejudice after learning Friday, after the state and defense arguments concluded, a drone video they received from the state, and which was played during the trial, was not the same as the video initially provided to the state.

Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder opted not to rule on the mistrial issues on Wednesday afternoon and jury deliberations continued. As of 4:30 p.m., the jury had been deliberating for more than 15 hours.

Defense attorneys first requested the mistrial on Nov. 10 following testy exchanges between Kenosha County assistant district attorney Thomas Binger and Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder while Rittenhouse was on the stand.

According to the motion filed Monday, Binger attempted to admit evidence Schroeder previously ruled would not be allowed in court while questioning Rittenhouse. It also touches on another instance when Schroeder first asked the jury to leave the room after a question by Binger touched on Rittenhouse's right to remain silent after his arrest, which is a fifth amendment constitutional right.

At the time, Schroeder said it was a "grave constitutional violation."

"You're right on the borderline. You may be over. You better stop," Schroeder said. Schroeder said he'd taken the motion under advisement but did not make an official ruling.

On Wednesday, attorneys sparred over the drone video submitted as evidence after the jury asked if they could watch video in private or in the courtroom, according to sources.

Defense attorney Natalie Wisco said the quality of the video they were provided via email from the state's attorney's office was not as good. She said she requested and received a flash drive of the state's video Saturday, and it was nearly twice the size of the video emailed by the state to the defense.

James Kraus, Kenosha County assistant district attorney, said the copy of the video was "as far as we know, the only copy of the video that we were given."

"I can't explain why Ms. Wisco's file has been compressed. That is not something we can be held accountable for," he said. "The only compressed video is the one Ms. Wisco has."

Schroeder chastised the state, stating he'd been uncertain about allowing the drone footage.

"Given the cloudy picture about this particular exhibit, this is a high-risk strategy for the state. I was queasy about this from the beginning, I am even queasier about it now," Schroeder said.

Schroeder ruled the courtroom would be cleared, and the jury would be allowed to see the video they requested. The jury broke for the day at 4:30 p.m. and deliberations is expected to resume Thursday.

Armed Protester Outside

The trial has been underway in Kenosha for more than two weeks. On Tuesday and Wednesday, demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse as they await the verdict.

Among the demonstrators on Wednesday was a man police spotted holding a rifle while outside the courthouse, according to Fox News. Authorities asked him if he had a concealed carry permit, and he told them he did not. They then asked him to put the gun away.

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Gov. Tony Evers announced that 500 Wisconsin National Guard troops would wait near Kenosha to deal with any issues once the verdict is announced. On Tuesday, he urge people to opt for peace in Kenosha and across the state.

The Kenosha shootings occurred on a chaotic night of protests on Aug. 25, 2020, where cries for racial justice turned violent and a heavy police presence and armed civilians turned the streets into a militarized zone.

The chaos erupted amid the third night of protestssparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer.

Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon, in the death of Anthony Huber, 26. He also faces charges of first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting death of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide for shooting and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, 28.

The jury is also considering two additional felony charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon. One of those charges stems from accusations that Rittenhouse fired four shots at Rosenbaum and endangered the safety of a videographer, Richard McGinniss, who was in the line of fire at the time.

The other first-degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon, charge relates to accusations that Rittenhouse fired at an unidentified man prior to the fatal shooting of Huber.

Jurors can also choose to convict Rittenhouse of lesser charges, including second-degree intentional homicide in the shooting death of Huber and attempted second-degree reckless homicide in the shooting that injured Grosskreutz.

The jury must come to unanimous decision, which will draw to an end a closely watched two-week trial. Rittenhouse's lawyers have argued Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, while prosecutors have said he provoked violence at the racial justice protest in Kenosha.

Blake’s shooting was a flashpoint in a summer of unrest sweeping the United States after the Memorial Day 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died with the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, on his neck. Chauvin was convicted in Floyd’s death; in the shooting that left Blake partially paralyzed, police officer Rusten Sheskey was cleared of wrongdoing.

The anger and demand for justice took Kenosha by storm with days of protests and nights of unrest. Residents of the city of about 100,000 awoke daily to fresh scenes of burned businesses, destroyed cars and smashed-in windows. The National Guard was called in to maintain order, and police used tear gas and rubber pellets to control the crowds.

Car windows were broken, and fires were set in a Car Source lot as the crowd recorded the scene.

During the trial, witness video showed Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse through the car lot before Rittenhouse turned and shot the man four times with an AR-15-style rifle. McGinniss, a video producer at the Daily Caller who testified at the trial, said that Rosenbaum lunged for the gun.

“Are you certain he was reaching for the gun?” asked Mark Richards, one of Rittenhouse’s attorneys. McGinniss said that Rosenbaum was in a lowered position when he went for the weapon.

Witness video showed Rittenhouse, who prosecutors said was acting as an EMT, left Rosenbaum without offering aid and ran up Sheridan Road among a confused and angry crowd.

Two crowd members, including Huber, knocked Rittenhouse’s hat off and tried to hit him with a skateboard, a second video showed. Rittenhouse fell and pulled the trigger four more times — twice at an unidentified man who tried to kick him in the face and once more at Huber, who died after being struck in the chest, another video showed. The unknown man apparently was not injured.

Grosskreutz, who was armed, said he thought Rittenhouse was an “active shooter” when he saw Huber get shot, and decided to close the distance between him and the shooter. He was shot in the arm and retreated, video showed.

Rittenhouse got up and walked to the line of armored police cars that rolled south on Sheridan Road in the final seconds of the video.

Rittenhouse Testified

In his opening statement, Richards showed jurors video of Rosenbaum at a gas station in Kenosha the night of the protest where he and others could be seen cursing and threatening armed civilians. Richards argued that Rittenhouse was aware Rosenbaum and the others were a threat.

Rittenhouse broke down in tears while testifying on his own behalf at the trial, describing how he was chased by Rosenbaum — who was unarmed — in the Car Source lot, saying that he shot the man in self-defense when Rosenbaum put his hand on Rittenhouse’s rifle.

Under cross-examination, Rittenhouse said he didn’t mean to kill anybody and that he brought the rifle to protect himself.

Richards said Rittenhouse’s actions were protected by Wisconsin self-defense laws, which say that a person can use force against another if he believes it will prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.

Rittenhouse testified that the man threatened him and said, “If I catch any of you f---ers alone, I’m going to f---ing kill you.”

Rittenhouse said he felt threatened by others in the crowd as he left the car lot after shooting Rosenbaum. But, he testified, he believed Rosenbaum “would have taken his gun and used it against him and killed others.”

Asked why he pointed his rifle at Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse told the prosecution he wanted him to stop chasing him.

Prosecution's Case

Prosecutors argued that Rittenhouse acted with disproportionate force toward Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz, and that Rittenhouse provoked violence by pointing his rifle at people.

Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger said Rittenhouse was the only person to shoot another person at the protest in Kenosha during a night of violence in which protesters set off fireworks, fired guns in the air and hurled bricks.

Rittenhouse aimed his rifle at Rosenbaum and at Grosskreutz before he fired it, the prosecutor said. “When you point the gun at someone else, it makes them feel they’re about to die,” Binger said.

Grosskreutz testified that Huber swung a skateboard at Rittenhouse’s head before Rittenhouse shot him in the chest. Grosskreutz added that he tried to close the distance between Rittenhouse and himself when he was shot in the arm. The bullet severed his bicep.

Binger also argued that Rittenhouse performed duties usually handled by police and fire personnel, such as offering medical aid and putting out fires. Rittenhouse said he knew there was a curfew in Kenosha that night but didn’t think the curfew was being enforced.