Kyle Rittenhouse (left) and Mark Richards (right). Getty/Getty
Opening statements were made Tuesday by the defense and prosecution in Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial.
The prosecution claimed Rittenhouse's shooting three men last year during unrest was not reasonable.
Rittenhouse claimed that Rittenhouse was not looking for trouble, but was simply defending himself.
Kyle Rittenhouse's defense lawyer repeated the N-word twice in court Tuesday during opening statements in a trial. The trial will examine whether Rittenhouse was justified in shooting three men last year during racial unrest at Kenosha (Wisconsin).
Rittenhouse killed two men and injures a third when he entered Kenosha on the night of August 25, 2020 to protect a local business from unrest following the shooting of Black man Jacob Blake by police.
Assistant Kenosha County district attorney Thomas Binger claimed Rittenhouse used force in opening statements. Mark Richards, a member Rittenhouse’s defense team, said that Rittenhouse had forced the teen to defend himself against one of the men he shot, Joseph Rosenbaum.
Richards presented the jury with a clip of Rosenbaum mocking others on the night of Rosenbaum's death to reinforce his point.
"Shoot my n---a, shoot mine n---a. Rosenbaum declares in the video, "Bust on me for real."
Richards repeated the words of Rosenbaum in the video a little over a minute later while referring back at the clip: "Shoot Me n ----r. Shoot Me n ----r."
Richards spent the majority of his opening statement before the jury portraying Rittenhouse as someone with close ties to Kenosha and who wanted to help the community. Multiple times, he stated that Rittenhouse was armed to defend a local business and that his client did not want confrontation or trouble.
Richards stated that Rittenhouse had to defend himself against Rosenbaum's pursuit and dived for his gun. According to the lawyer, Rittenhouse was trying to defend himself against a mob following shooting Rosenbaum.
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Rittenhouse's actions were characterized by the prosecution as extreme, even against the background of violence and chaos that night.
In his opening statement, Binger stated to the jury that it was important to remember the context of the night when deciding whether Rittenhouse acted "reasonably."
Binger stated, "We will show video of hostile confrontations and people getting in each other's faces, but the only person who has killed anyone is the defendant."
Binger also questioned Rittenhouse's claim that he was only in Kenosha for business protection, noting that demonstrators had been pushed past Rittenhouse's business.
"Does the defendant decide to leave or does he decide that he has done all he set out to and it is time to return home?" No," Binger said. "The evidence will prove that the defendant and another person in the group... decides to venture out into crowd... and walk amongst the group of hostile protesters."
The trial began Monday with jury selection and is expected to last for two weeks.
Insider has the original article.
