A jury has acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges after a two-week trial that reflected America's deep political divide.
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The jury deliberated for 25 hours before delivering their verdict Friday afternoon.
After being acquitted of the final count, Rittenhouse began crying and collapsed into his seat. He embraced one of his defense attorneys.
Civil unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake led to Rittenhouse being charged with killing two people and injuring another. He was charged with recklessly endangering two other men. Rittenhouse denied all the charges against him. He testified that he shot the men because they attacked him first.
The jury was thanked by the judge before adjourning on Friday.
You were a pleasure to work with. You were attentive, and you were on time. I couldn't have asked for a better jury. It has been great.
Prosecutors struggled to portray Rittenhouse as the person who started the violence. Their witnesses testified that Rittenhouse had been under attack and had opened fire.
A number of witnesses testified that Rosenbaum was threatening Rittenhouse and others just before the first shooting took place. During his testimony, Rittenhouse described how he shot at Rosenbaum after he lunged for his gun in the parking lot of the car dealership.
The prosecutors and defense attorneys played several videos showing the two men running after Rittenhouse after the shooting, with Grosskreutz wielding a handgun. Rittenhouse testified that he was struck twice with a skateboard by the man. During his cross-examination, Grosskreutz admitted that Rittenhouse shot him after he pointed his pistol at the teenager.
The assistant district attorney accused Rittenhouse of being a liar, a fraud, and a "wannabe soldier" during closing statements.
I think he helped someone who got a cut on their hand by wrapping up an ankle. Binger said, "Good." He killed two people, blew off Gaige Grosskreutz's arm, and put two more lives in danger.
Mark Richards, Rittenhouse's lead defense attorney, characterized the three people as "rioters" in his closing statement.
Richards said that "every person who was shot was attacking Kyle: One with a skateboard, one with his hands, one with his feet, and one with a gun." My client does not have to be beaten up by the mob or Mr. Rosenbaum.
There were a number of tense and heated moments throughout the trial, and at certain points prosecutors and defense attorneys grew downright vicious toward each other.
Mark Richards, Rittenhouse's lead attorney, accused prosecutors of trying a "political case" and said they pressed ahead with flawed homicide charges despite overwhelming evidence that Rittenhouse opened fire in self-defense. The prosecutors accused Rittenhouse's attorneys of being dishonest and taking advantage of the 75-year-old judge's lack of understanding of technology.
The judge shouted at the prosecutors multiple times during the trial. Binger was accused of a "grave constitutional violation" when he tried to discuss Rittenhouse's use of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. He yelled, "Don't get brazen with me!" during a dispute over evidence that he didn't want the jury to hear.
Rittenhouse was charged with two counts of first-degree Homicide for the deaths of Rosenbaum and Huber, as well as attempted first-degree Homicide for Grosskreutz's injury. There were two counts of recklessly endangering safety.
The count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 was dismissed. The judge dismissed a count of failure to comply with an emergency order.
Friday's verdict rendered open requests for mis trials useless. Rittenhouse's attorneys had complained that prosecutors had violated both Rittenhouse's rights and the judge's orders in their cross-examination of Rittenhouse by giving them a much blurrier version of a key piece of video evidence.
