The verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial came on Friday. The American, accused of having shot dead two people and injured a third on the sidelines of anti-racist protests in August 2020 in Kenosha in the United States, was acquitted. Twelve jurors in a Wisconsin state court declared him “not guilty” of the five charges against him on the fourth day of their deliberations.
The 18-year-old white man, who faced life imprisonment for murder, had pleaded self-defense. On reading the verdict, he broke down in tears before quickly leaving the courtroom.
New York Mayor Bill denounces “denial of justice”
His trial exposed American society’s fractures over guns, the right to self-defense, and the anti-racist Black Lives Matter movement, and the verdict unsurprisingly sparked backlash. poles apart. New York Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio blasted a “denial of justice”, while Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller tweeted: “God bless America”.
To avoid possible overflows, the governor of Wisconsin has asked 500 National Guard soldiers to stand ready to intervene in Kenosha.
Kyle Rittenhouse had pleaded self-defense
On August 23, 2020, this city in the Great Lakes region was set on fire after a police blunder against an African-American. Then aged 17, Kyle Rittenhouse had equipped himself with a semi-automatic rifle and had joined armed groups who had come to “protect” the businesses. Under confusing circumstances, he opened fire, killing two men and injuring a third.
“I did nothing wrong, I just defended myself”, he pleaded, in tears, during his trial, assuring to have fired after being chased and attacked by these three men – all white like him. The accused was “a tourist of chaos” who “sought excitement” and “voluntarily and knowingly put himself in a dangerous situation”, retorted prosecutor Thomas Binger in his indictment.
A muse in right-wing circles
The young man appeared free, supporters having paid the two million dollars in deposit. The young man has indeed become a muse in certain right-wing circles for whom the great mobilization against police violence in the summer of 2020 was the work of “antifas” or “anarchists”.
Conversely, on the left, Kyle Rittenhouse embodies the excesses of gun culture and the right to self-defense. On Twitter, the Black Lives Matter movement stressed that it was not surprised by the verdict. “The system works exactly as it’s supposed to (…) to protect white supremacy.”
“It illustrates the urgent need for reform of the justice system and of our broken penal system,” added Shaadie Ali, a representative of the powerful civil rights organization ACLU.