It is a risky strategy, one that lawyers advise against their clients 99% of the time in murder trials. But on Wednesday, Kyle Rittenhouse, the former high school student on trial for killing two protesters and injuring a third in Kenosha, during the violent protests of the summer of 2020, chose to testify. Now 18, he burst into tears at the stand, prompting the judge to suspend the hearing. On his return, he assured the jury: “I did nothing wrong. I defended myself. “
Kyle Rittenhouse, on trial for two murders during the Kenosha protests, has chosen to testify. At the bar, he claims to have been pursued by several people and to have found himself stuck during a first altercation. He bursts into tears, the judge suspends the hearing. pic.twitter.com/OKkdchW9ik
– Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) November 10, 2021
On August 23, 2020, a police officer fired several bullets in the back of Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, leaving him paralyzed in his legs. The tragedy, two months after the murder of George Floyd, provokes important demonstrations which degenerate. Two days later, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who lives in Michigan, drives around 40 miles to Kenosha to, he says, “help protect” local businesses from looting.
Pursued by a demonstrator, he opened fire at close range and killed Joseph Rosenbaum. A few minutes later, chased by a group who yells, according to videos, “Get him”, “Beat him”, he kills Anthony Huber, who had just struck him with a skateboard. The high school student then shoots Gaige Grosskreutz, armed with a pistol, and seriously wounds him in the arm.
Risk of life imprisonment in the event of conviction
Kyle Rittenhouse faces six charges, including “intentional 1st degree homicide” (equivalent to murder in Wisconsin), punishable by life, “reckless homicide”, punishable by 60 years in prison, and attempted murder (60 years also).
His lawyers say he acted in self-defense. They scored points Monday when Gaige Grosskreutz admitted to having “pointed” the first his weapon in the direction of the high school student, who then fired. But according to prosecutors, Kyle Rittenhouse is the initial “aggressor” because he created “a deadly situation” by wanting to “play vigilante” with a semi-automatic rifle illegally loaned by an adult friend.
The debates continued Wednesday afternoon, after a tense exchange between the judge and one of the prosecutors, who tried to discuss an incident that had occurred two weeks before, which the judge had prohibited. In the process, defense lawyers filed a motion to cancel the trial, believing that the prosecutor had crossed a red line.