Jury verdict
Dead in anti-racism demonstration – Kenosha shooters acquitted on all counts
The defendant prior to the sentencing in the Kenosha County Courthouse
© Sean Krajacic / Pool The Kenosha News / AP / DPA
People are protesting against racism, the mood is heated. The white, then 17-year-old Kyle R. wants to prevent looting. He claims and shoots two people. Now he has been acquitted in court. Are there new protests looming now?
The accused was acquitted in the widely acclaimed trial of the violent death of two people in anti-racism protests. The twelve jurors at the Kenosha City Court found shooter Kyle R. not guilty on all five counts.
The now 18-year-old white man never denied the fatal shots with an assault rifle at the protest in the US state of Wisconsin, but pleaded innocent. He invoked his right to self-defense. After the verdict had been announced, R. struggled with relief in the courtroom.
Biden asks to respect court
The security measures in the court and in front of the building had previously been tightened significantly due to feared protests. The verdict could give new backing to allegations that white defendants are often treated better by the US judiciary than blacks. The process has already sparked a debate in the United States about the right to self-defense and the right to carry a weapon.
US President Joe Biden said after the verdict, “Although the Kenosha ruling will leave many Americans with a feeling of anger and concern, and I am one of them, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken.” Biden urged citizens to express their reactions to the judgment peacefully and in accordance with the law. “Violence and the destruction of property have no place in our democracy.” He had promised the Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, any support of the federal government in maintaining public safety.
Serious protests broke out in Kenosha in the summer of 2020 after the African-American Jacob Blake was shot several times in the back during a police operation. The case took place in a heated political climate, because only about three months earlier, the African American George Floyd had been killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. Videos of Floyd’s agony spread like wildfire, sparking sustained protests against police violence and racism across the country.
The then 17-year-old R. from the neighboring state of Illinois shot dead two white men with an AR-15 assault rifle and injured another person during a protest in Kenosha. He had traveled to Kenosha in order to protect his property there from looting, according to his own statements. The prosecution charged him with two counts of murder. He was facing life imprisonment.
R. didn’t want to cause trouble in Kenosha
When testifying at the trial, the defendant asserted that he did not go to Kenosha to cause trouble. He was threatened and shot because he feared for his life. The one man he shot chased him and grabbed his gun. The other hit him with a skateboard. “I didn’t mean to kill her. I wanted to stop the people who were attacking me,” he said. However, the prosecution stressed that despite the unrest on the sidelines of the protests, only one person shot that night, namely the defendant.
R. is celebrated by numerous right-wingers as a martyr who campaigned for public safety. The then US President Donald Trump also defended him in the election campaign and suggested after the incident that the young person had acted in self-defense. The three men R. shot at were white.