Jury finds Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges

by Harper Neidig - 11/19/21 1:14 PM ET

A jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who fatally shot two protesters in Kenosha, Wis., and wounded a third, of all charges on Friday, including intentional homicide.

After three-and-a-half days of deliberation, the unanimous jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of all five counts that he had been facing, bringing an end to a controversial trial that has polarized the country.

Rittenhouse, then 17, shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded a third protester last year amid demonstrations against police brutality in Kenosha, where police had shot and paralyzed a Black man named Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse has maintained he shot the men in self defense.

The teen would have faced the possibility of life in prison if he had been convicted on the intentional homicide count.

Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said in a statement Friday that his office respects the jury’s verdict.

“Certainly, issues regarding the privilege of self-defense remain highly contentious in our current times,” Graveley said. “We ask that all members of the public accept the verdicts peacefully and not resort to violence.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) had activated about 500 National Guard members this week in preparation for the verdict.

The trial’s outcome is likely to further inflame national debates over civil rights. It comes less than a year after Kenosha County prosecutors chose not to charge the white police officer who shot Blake in August 2020.

The case had become a polarizing and even partisan national issue. On Friday, Republican leaders applauded the verdict while Democrats and civil rights advocates said it was emblematic of the disparate racial outcomes produced by the nation’s justice system.

“I believe justice has been served in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wrote on Twitter. “I hope everyone can accept the verdict, remain peaceful, and let the community of Kenosha heal and rebuild.”

Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP, called the verdict a “travesty.”

“Rittenhouse’s decision to go to Kenosha and provoke protestors was unwarranted. Moreover, the outcome of this case sets a dangerous precedent,” Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “We have seen this same outcome time and time again; a justice system that presents different outcomes based on the race of the accused. This verdict is a reminder of the treacherous role that white supremacy and privilege play within our justice system.”

President Biden told reporters when asked about the verdict on Friday, “I stand by what the jury has concluded. The jury system works and we have to abide by it.”

Rittenhouse, armed with an AR-15 rifle illegally purchased for him by a friend, traveled to Kenosha from his home in Illinois during the unrest following Blake’s shooting. His lawyers told jurors that the teenager was there to protect small businesses from looting.

Videos played during the trial showed Rittenhouse shooting the men when confronted by the protesters.

Prosecutors had accused Rittenhouse of traveling to Kenosha to look for trouble and argued that the killings could not legally be considered self defense because he had provoked demonstrators into attacking him.

“You cannot claim self-defense against a danger you create,” Thomas Binger, one of the prosecutors on the case, told jurors earlier this week. “That’s critical right here. If you’re the one who’s threatening others, you lose the right to claim self-defense.”

Huber’s parents said in a statement that they were angered by the acquittal.

“Today’s verdict means there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son. It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street,” Karen Bloom and John Huber said in the statement, which was released through the law firm representing them in their lawsuit against the city of Kenosha.

“We hope that decent people will join us in forcefully rejecting that message and demanding more of our laws, our officials, and our justice system,” they added.

Bloom and Huber have sued the Kenosha police, alleging that the department was complicit in their son’s death for having “deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets armed with deadly weapons,” according to the Associated Press.

— Updated at 4:33 p.m.

Tags Joe Biden Kyle Rittenouse trial Rittenhouse verdict Ron Johnson Tony Evers Wisconsin