Kyle Rittenhouse Wiki
Kyle Rittenhouse Biography
Who is Kyle Rittenhouse ?
Attorneys for a teenager accused of shooting three people amid civil unrest in Wisconsin last year called for the trial to be vacated.
Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense asked that the case be dismissed after the judge angrily reprimanded prosecutors for hearing seemingly inadmissible evidence.
Mr. Rittenhouse, 18, cried earlier in court when he took the stand.
He stated that he killed two men and wounded a third on August 25, 2020 on the streets of Kenosha in self-defense.
Rittenhouse faces charges
Rittenhouse faces charges including willful and reckless murder, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm after he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Riots broke out on the city streets two days earlier after police shot a black man, Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, traveled to the city from his home in Illinois and, with a semi-automatic rifle in tow, said he was looking to help protect property from rioting on the streets.
Back Ground
Shooting of Jacob Blake and Kenosha riots
On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake, an African American man, was shot four times in the back by a Kenosha police officer after he was shot with a pistol. Blake was shot after he opened the door of a pickup truck and was leaning toward the vehicle.He is paralyzed from the waist down.The police shooting was followed by protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, which saw a resurgence in the wake of several other high-profile killings by police officers in 2020. The Kenosha protests included rallies, marches, property damage, arson and clashes with the police.
In response to the George Floyd protests, which preceded the Kenosha protests, former Kenosha councilor Kevin Mathewson announced the formation of a militia group that he called the Kenosha Guard. On August 25, he made a call on Facebook for “patriots ready to take up arms and defend” Kenosha, which received a strong response online . Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian and County Sheriff David Beth expressed disapproval of armed civilians patrolling the streets,while police officers were seen on video handing them water and being heard Say, “We appreciate them, we really do.” Sheriff Beth later said that before Tuesday night’s protests, a group of armed individuals had asked him to delegate them to patrol the city of Kenosha, to which he refused. He said that he did not know if Rittenhouse had been part of the group, but the possibility of an incident occurring was the reason why he had rejected the application.
Why was there a motion to vacate the trial?
On Wednesday, the seventh day of the trial, Chief Prosecutor Thomas Binger and Judge Bruce Schroeder had a loud fight in court. Mr. Binger’s questioning of Mr. Rittenhouse’s decision to remain silent until now, as is his right, sparked furious reprimands from the judge.
“That’s the basic law, it has been the basic law in this country for 40, 50 years. I have no idea why I would do something like that,” the judge said. “So I don’t know what you’re doing.”
Judge Schroeder also charged the prosecutor with violating pre-trial sentences by presenting evidence the judge had ruled not relevant to the trial – a video recorded two weeks before the shootings in which Rittenhouse commented on shooting men he thought that they were robbing a pharmacy.
“Don’t be cheeky with me,” Judge Schroeder told the prosecutor. “You know very well that a lawyer cannot enter these types of areas when the judge has already ruled without asking outside the presence of the jury to do so.”
The judge added: “When he says he acted in good faith, I don’t believe him.”
Judge Bruce Schroeder lashed out at the prosecution
Defense attorneys argued that there had been an “overreach of the prosecution” and asked that the trial be annulled with prejudice, which would mean that Mr. Rittenhouse could not be tried again.
Judge Schroeder did not rule on the motion Wednesday, but agreed to take it “on notice” based on the future behavior of the prosecution team.
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Lead defense attorney Corey Chirafasi even suggested that prosecutors may have been seeking to have the trial vacated because the case was “going wrong” for them.
What did Rittenhouse say about the shootings?
Taking the stand in a risky legal move for any defendant in a murder trial, Mr. Rittenhouse said, “I did nothing wrong. I defended myself.”
He said he was heading towards the entrance of a used car dealership with a fire extinguisher to put out a fire when he heard someone yell, “Burn in hell!”
Video evidence shows the armed teenager yelling “friendly, friendly, friendly” to the crowd. He said he heard people yelling “catch it” and started running.
“The person who attacked me first threatened to kill me,” he said of Rosenbaum, the first person he shot.wikipedia
He told the jury that he believed Rosenbaum was carrying a chain with him at one point, although he later learned it was a plastic bag.
Kenosha was involved in two nights of riots before the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings
The judge asked for a break after Mr. Rittenhouse burst into tears when he began to describe to the jury the moments leading up to the fatal shootings. He, too, was seen his mother sobbing on the veranda.
Upon his return to the stand, the teenager said he had nowhere to run at the time, then added: “I did not mean to kill. I intended to stop the person who was trying to kill me and steal my gun.”
Video
Video of the scene shows the teenager falling to the ground while being pursued. Mr. Rittenhouse said that he feared for his life when several men approached him. The defendant said that he shot and killed Mr. Rosenbaum after Rosenbaum put a hand on his rifle.
Mr. Rittenhouse told the court that Mr. Huber, the second person he shot, hit him with his skateboard and also tried to grab his rifle.
He also said that Mr. Grosskreutz, the man he shot in the arm, had approached him with a pistol pointed at his head.
Grosskreutz testified this week that he thought Rittenhouse was an “active shooter” when he pulled his own pistol from him and advanced on him.
Prosecutors argued that Rittenhouse was a vigilante who wanted to kill everyone he shot that night.
In harsh questioning, prosecutor Thomas Binger challenged the teenager’s right to own a rifle and tried to question the extent of his medical training.
Source: https://wikisoon.com/
