He is a child spoiled by radicals, and not so radical, right, this baby-cheeked teenager.
He is a famous cause for the pro-gun lobby.
He is a hero to vigilantes around the world.
And, as had been widely predicted, Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty of willful murder, or anything else, for the murder of two men and the wounding of another.
A jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, cleared the 18-year-old of all charges on Friday in a controversial trial that came to symbolize America’s bitterly entrenched divisions.
He faced claims of self-defense, in a country where the just lone avenger still resonates deeply as an avatar of border justice, against charges of vigilantism.
The jury bought into the defense’s core narrative, which Rittenhouse delivered when he took the stand, in testimony interrupted by sobbing: “I did nothing wrong. I defended myself “.
The then 17-year-old in fact did just that, lethal, firing the Smith and Wesson semiautomatic he had donned before traveling the short distance from his home in Illinois.
Strictly assessed under a state law allowing the use of deadly force if a person reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself, the jury, who had deliberated for nearly four days complete, cannot be attacked. for his verdict. In open transportation Wisconsin, “there is no obligation to restrain before using force.”
It is not the jury that was wrong; it’s culture.
Although it is entirely possible, even probable, that the verdict would have been the other way around if Rittenhouse were black.
Whiteness is a shield and that, too, is cultural in a nation that has not yet taken into account its ingrained congenital racism.
But racism had no traction in this particular trial.
Everyone involved was white.
However, the genesis of the crime was based on a volatile protest in Kenosha following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man shot in the back by a white police officer responding to a domestic disturbance on August 23, 2000. It happened in the summer of Black Lives Matter, of rage and protest, after the murder of George Floyd. Blake survived, paralyzed from the waist down, and prosecutors announced earlier this year that no charges will be brought against the officer.
Conservatives, including Republican politicians who welcomed the verdict.
On the day Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty, he displayed a symbol of white supremacy, according to media reports.
In an early pronounced ruling, Judge Bruce Schroeder ruled that the dead and injured racial justice protesters could not be described by prosecutors as “victims” but as “looters” and “rioters.”
That bias was included in the judgment.
The chief prosecutor, Thomas Binger, had attempted to portray Rittenhouse as an antagonist who decided to exacerbate tensions. “The evidence will show that hundreds of people were on the street experiencing chaos and violence, and the only person who killed anyone was the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse.”
Schroeder had banned any reference to a photo of Rittenhouse drinking with members of the Proud Boys and wearing a “Free as Fk” T-shirt as being too damaging while out on $ 2 million bail.
Rittenhouse had gone to Kenosha, which had been in the midst of protests, apparently to help protect property from the police. He had taken his military-style rifle and a medical kit. He was captured, on video, walking through the crowd of protesters against police brutality. In a live interview earlier in the night with The Daily Caller, a conservative news and opinion site, the former youth police cadet says he is protecting a car dealership from looters.
Six minutes later, there are footage showing Rittenhouse being chased by an unknown group into the parking lot of another dealership a few blocks away. Someone shoots into the air. Rittenhouse turns to the sound of gunfire as another pursuer lunges toward him. Rittenhouse then shoots four times. He seems to make a phone call before running away and someone yells, “That’s the shooter!” He trips, falls to the ground, this is all in a video that the jury saw many times, and he shoots four more times at three people who run towards him.
This was the crux of the self-defense position.
He shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 26.
Witnesses testified that Rosenbaum had pounced on Rittenhouse’s gun during the chase. Rosenbaum had just been discharged from the hospital (he was treated for bipolar disorder, had attempted suicide) and was not armed. Huber had wielded a skateboard at Rittenhouse when he was shot and killed.
A witness related that Rosenbaum had attempted to grab Rittenhouse’s gun in the split-second chasing confrontation. When Binger pressured the witness to admit that he had no way of knowing Rosenbaum’s intent, the man replied, “Well, he said, ‘Fk you!’ and then he took (his) gun. “
Most damaging to the prosecution was the testimony of his own witness, Grosskreutz, who ended up strengthening the defense.
Grosskreutz revealed that he was carrying a loaded gun that night and had pointed it at Rittenhouse when he was shot.
During cross-examination, the defense asked the witness: “It wasn’t until he pointed his gun at him, advanced on him … that he fired, right?”
Grosskreutz: “Correct.”
Despite Grosskreutz insisting that he was there as a trained paramedic who had volunteered for the protest and had no intention of pointing his gun at Rittenhouse, it was impossible for Binger to rehabilitate him as a defense witness.
After the verdict, Hubert’s parents issued a statement: “Today’s verdict means that there is no responsibility 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. “
One victim he chased after Rittenhouse yelling threats and racial epithets. One victim hit him with a skateboard. One victim He pointed a gun at him.
The prosecution could not overcome the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Rittenhouse had no it acted beyond the realm of reasonableness to defend itself. The jury did not even find him guilty of reckless endangering, for stepping into an incendiary mob environment with a loaded rifle.
In his closing argument, Binger had urged the jury: “Find the truth! A lot of people look at this case and see what they want to see. “
They saw it through the eyes of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Reference-www.thestar.com