
The Wisconsin jury weighing Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate has acquitted Rittenhouse on all counts this afternoon after deliberating for nearly three and a half days.
Rittenhouse, 18, from nearby Antioch, Ill., was charged with reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, on Aug. 25, 2020. The shootings occurred during protests days earlier over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by a White Kenosha police officer.
The 12-person panel in Kenosha, Wis., also cleared Rittenhouse of attempted intentional homicide in the shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz, a paramedic from suburban Milwaukee, who was at the protests working as a medic. Rittenhouse was also acquitted on two counts of recklessly endangering safety and use of a dangerous weapon.
As the verdict was read, Rittenhouse began sobbing and collapsed at the defense table as families of the victims were seen crying in court. Rittenhouse, who testified at the trial, claimed self-defense.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, shot and killed Rosenbaum, 36, and Huber, 26, and injured Grosskreutz, who was 26 at the time. Rittenhouse testified that he fired in self-defense and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Judge Bruce Schroeder had finalized his instructions to jurors Monday, which included the possibility that they could find him guilty of lesser charges if they do not reach a unanimous verdict on several of the original counts but are not convinced by his self-defense claim.
The trial has revived nationwide scrutiny on Kenosha, where Black residents say the same issues that fueled last year’s unrest still persist.
Outside the courthouse, the family of Jacob Blake had gathered in support of the family members of the three men Rittenhouse shot when the verdict was announced.
“I don’t know how they came to the final conclusion that he’s innocent, but this is why African Americans say the whole damn system is guilty,” Justin Blake, the man’s uncle, said. “This must end. We are here to support Anthony and Jojo and Gaige and that’s what we’re doing to continue to do.”
In the moments after the verdict, Blake described Rittenhouse as the second a White person to escape charges for a shooting in Kenosha, a reference to officer Rusten Sheskey who faced no charges for shooting Blakes’s nephew – the incident that sparked the very protests and unrest that drew Rittenhouse to town.
Blake likened Kenosha to a Jim Crow-era sundown town.”It’s an insult,” he said.
As Blake and others spoke, Rittenhouse supporters tried to drown him out. “He deserves his freedom!” a man shouted. The man was among the regular protesters throughout the past few days of deliberation, and said the only people who were guilty were the other Americans who didn’t follow Rittenhouse’s lead and take up arms in the street.
As news of the verdict emerged, Rittenhouse supporters standing nearby erupted in jubilation. “Not guilty!” they cried, sparking a brief wave of cheers and honks from passing vehicles.
(c) 2021, The Washington Post · Holly Bailey
{Matzav.com}
This is great news. I plan on getting for myself a free 72 inch plasma tv from my local Target before I burn it to the ground. Then I’ll join the riots.
B h
Lakeisha from Kenosha ain’t too happy today.
The moral of the story is that if you don’t want someone to do duh shootin’, you shouldn’t engage in lootin’.