KENOSHA, Wis. — Closing arguments at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial began Monday with a prosecutor questioning whether Rittenhouse was really there to help the night he showed up in Kenosha with a rifle during a protest against racial injustice.
Prosecutor Thomas Binger told the jury that Rittenhouse had no connection to the business he said he was going to protect, he ran around with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle, and he lied about being an emergency medical technician.
“Does that suggest to you that he genuinely is there to help?” Binger asked.
Binger repeatedly showed a segment of drone video that he said shows Rittenhouse pointing the gun at protesters after setting down a fire extinguisher.
“This is the provocation. This is what starts this incident,” the prosecutor said.
Rittenhouse, now 18, killed two men and wounded a third during a tumultuous night of protests in the summer of 2020 in a case that has stirred bitter debate in the U.S. over guns, vigilantism, racial injustice, and law and order.
Prosecutors have sought to portray Rittenhouse as the aggressor who created a dangerous situation in the first place that night with his semiautomatic rifle, while Rittenhouse has said he feared for his life and acted in self-defense.
Each side was given 2 ½ hours to make its case to the jury before deliberations were to begin.
The young man from Antioch, Illinois, faces a mandatory life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him, first-degree intentional homicide.
Rittenhouse was 17 when he traveled the few miles from his home to Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, as the city was in the throes of violent protests that erupted after a white police officer shot and wounded Jacob Blake, a Black man. Rittenhouse said he went there to protect property.
Supporters have hailed him as a hero who took a stand against lawlessness; foes have branded him a vigilante.
Earlier Monday, Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, a misdemeanor that had appeared to be among the likeliest of the charges to net a conviction for prosecutors.
The judge then launched into 36 pages of legal instructions to the jury, explaining the charges and the laws of self-defense.
The underage weapon charge was punishable by up to nine months in jail.
But the defense argued that Wisconsin law has an exception related to the length of a weapon’s barrel. Prosecutors argued that the defense was misreading the statute. The judge had twice sided with prosecutors earlier in declining to dismiss the charge, but he also said the law was confusingly written.
After prosecutors conceded Monday that Rittenhouse’s rifle was not short-barreled, the judge threw out the charge.
Public interest in closing arguments was evident in the morning, when more people than usual stood in a line outside Courtroom 209 to get a seat.
Rittenhouse’s mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, listened intently in court during the jury instructions.
Bystander video captured the critical minutes when Rittenhouse, with a Smith & Wesson AR-style semiautomatic rifle, shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28.
Rittenhouse is white, as are the three men he shot. The case raised questions about racial justice, policing, firearms and white privilege that polarized people far outside Kenosha.
Rittenhouse has argued self-defense in the shootings, leaving prosecutors with the burden of proving that his fear for his safety and his use of deadly force were unreasonable. Some legal experts watching the trial said the prosecution struggled to do so.
Perhaps in recognition of that, prosecutors asked Schroeder to let the jury consider several lesser charges if they acquit on the original counts. Schroeder indicated Friday that he would allow some of what prosecutors sought when he gave the jury instructions Monday.
Prosecutors, led by Binger, sought to portray Rittenhouse as the aggressor the night of the shootings. Binger also highlighted Rittenhouse’s youth and inexperience, noting to jurors that of all the people armed in Kenosha that night, only Rittenhouse shot people.
But key witnesses seemed to strengthen Rittenhouse's self-defense claims.
Videographer Richie McGinniss testified that Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse and lunged for his rifle right before Rittenhouse shot him. Ryan Balch, a military veteran in Rittenhouse’s group that night, testified that Rosenbaum threatened to kill Rittenhouse and others if he got them alone.
Grosskreutz, the only man shot who survived, acknowledged that he had a gun in his hand as he approached Rittenhouse and that it was pointed at him.
Among the trial's most compelling moments was Rittenhouse's own testimony. In some six hours on the stand — most of it poised and matter-of-fact — he said he was afraid Rosenbaum would take his gun and shoot both him and others. He said he never wanted to kill anyone.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself," Rittenhouse said.
With prosecutors trying to focus jurors on the totality of what Rittenhouse did, starting with his decision to come to Kenosha with a gun, the defense tried to steer them toward the roughly 3 minutes that began with Rosenbaum's pursuit of Rittenhouse — the period at the heart of his self-defense claim.
After closing arguments, names were to be drawn to determine which 12 of the 18 jurors who heard testimony will deliberate.
With a verdict near, Gov. Tony Evers said 500 National Guard members would be prepared for duty in Kenosha if local law enforcement requested them.
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