Rittenhouse, now 18 years old, is charged with five felonies, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree attempted intentional homicide. He is also charged with possession of a dangerous weapon while under the age of 18, a misdemeanor. He pleaded not guilty.
The defense is arguing Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense and claims he traveled from Antioch, Illinois to help people amid the chaos of the protests.
The prosecution rested its case Tuesday after it called 22 witnesses over six days. Gaige Grosskreutz, the man shot and injured by Rittenhouse, took the witness stand Monday. Under cross-examination, Grosskreutz said Rittenhouse had fired at him after he had pointed his own handgun at him. Rittenhouse was on the ground after having been attacked with a skateboard by Antony Huber.
Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, were shot and killed by Rittenhouse.
Some legal experts and Rittenhouse supporters have suggested that this was the moment that the prosecution’s argument—that Rittenhouse was not acting in self-defense and actually helped to initiate the violence in Kenosha—fell apart.
The defense will continue to call witnesses Wednesday, including Rittenhouse himself.
Follow Newsweek’s liveblog for all the latest updates.
Rittenhouse’s legal team has indicated they will call at least three more witnesses Thursday, beginning with Dr. John Black—the use of force and video expert.
Drew Hernandez, the eyewitness to the shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum and an expert on shell casings speaking to the allegation that Rittenhouse reracked his gun during the shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz, will also provide testimony.
Schroeder asked prosecutors if they’re expecting to call any rebuttal witnesses once the defense rests their case. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger responded that he didn’t expect an extensive rebuttal but affirmed that the state has the right to call witnesses.
Judge Schroeder told the court he is “very confident” the trial will conclude on Tuesday, but said there’s a small chance it finishes on Monday. He took a vote on whether the court would be in session over the weekend but ruled they would resume at the start of next week.
The jury was dismissed and the court is in recess until 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.
“The crying, and the display that he showed, nobody wants to hear that,” Justin Blake said during a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper. “This young man, once you step into an adult world, you’re sort of trapped on that side. He doesn’t want to be a 17-year-old at home playing Atari or playing whatever game they play these days. He stepped into a very adult world, and therefore he has to suffer the consequences of it. Two men are dead. … These are two human beings. They’re not animals. They’re not dogs like they were shot in the street.”
Cooper asked Blake if he believes Rittenhouse showed he was remorseful while on the stand.
“There’s no remorse. You can’t show remorse because you don’t have any,” Blake said. He continued that he thinks the 18-year old has been taught a “doctrine that’s close to the Ku Klux Klan and the skinheads.”
“Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key,” Jeffries tweeted during day eight of Rittenhouse’s murder trial.
But some critics were quick to respond with a tweet the Democrat authored on June 29, 2020.
“End. Mass. Incarceration.” Jeffries wrote. “Defund The Prison Industrial Complex.”
Jeffries coauthored the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed, Safely Transitioning Every Person Act (FIRST STEP), a criminal justice reform bill, that was signed into law in December 2018.
The basketball star quote tweeted a USA Today video of Rittenhouse breaking down in tears as he testified about the August 25, 2020 shooting in Kenosha.
“What tears????? I didn’t see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court,” James tweeted with three rolling on the floor laughing emojis.
But a university spokesperson said in a statement that Rittenhouse has not gone through the ASU admissions process and is not enrolled in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation.
Rittenhouse enrolled as a “non-degree seeking” online student. He signed up for a session that started on October 13 that allows participants “access to begin taking classes as they prepare to seek admission into a degree program at the university.”
College Republicans United, a GOP student group at ASU, faced backlash for raising money for Rittenhouse’s legal defense. They tweeted that he “does not deserve to have his entire life destroyed because of the actions of violent anarchists during a lawless riot.”
Journalist Ubah Ali reported that Justin Blake stood by himself outside of the courthouse following the trial. Later that evening, he told reporters that they are marching to honor the victims’ memory.
“[Kyle Rittenhouse] was an aggressor, these were two people that came from a peaceful rally for Jacob Blake and did not go home that night,” Justin Blake told WTMJ-TV.
29-year-old Jacob Blake was shot and seriously injured by a Kenosha police officer on August 23, 2020. In the midst of Black Lives Matter protests two days later, Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and a third was seriously injured.
During a pre-trial hearing in early October, Black testified about video footage taken on August 25. He provided a frame-by-frame breakdown of the shooting videos and explained how quickly the events unfolded and the decisions that Rittenhouse made in response.
Prosecutors challenged Black’s report but a judge ruled that he would be allowed to testify at the trial as long as it sticks to the timeline of events and an explanation of how fast they happened.
His expertise on police use-of-force cases and his testimony are likely used by the defense to support their argument that Rittenhouse feared for his life when he began firing.
The group arrived outside of the courthouse around 5:30 p.m. to demonstrate. Later in the evening, they told reporters they were marching to honor the people who died in August 2020.
“Why we’re marching tonight is to keep the victims and their lives and their memories alive in this city and alive in this country,” one demonstrator said. “All over this country people are watching Kenosha, Wisconsin, and wanting to know ‘Can you have equal protection under the law?’”
Others who spoke encouraged people to get out and vote “to get people like (Judge Bruce) Schroeder off the bench, out of our courthouses…. on the state and federal level.”
Demonstrates also marched around Civil square and chanted, “no justice, no peace” and “if we don’t get it, shut it down.”
“Honestly.” Cross tweeted at Elie Mystal, The Nation’s justice correspondent. “how can this judge be removed?”
Cross’ tweet came after Judge Bruce Schroeder lashed out at Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger during his cross-examination of Rittenhouse that included asking him why he remained silent after the August 2020 shootings.
Mystal responded by saying, “Realistically, he can’t be. He’s elected. Even if he’s disciplined later by the state (which he won’t be) there’s nothing for it for this trial. And if he gets off, he can’t be re-tried because of Double Jeopardy. So, like I said two weeks ago, Rittenhouse is gonna walk.”
Cross replied to the message saying, “Depressed. Disgusted. But. Not surprised.”
“What they did was they excused the rampant violence, they cheered the reduction of police, and what did it do? It creates a void. Who fills that void? Sometimes thugs do, but other times, well-meaning citizens who have had enough,” Gutfeld said while reacting to Rittenhouse’s testimony on the witness stand during the network’s round-table show The Five.
Gutfeld continued, “That is the story that is old as time, that when there is no police, you become the policeman, hence the reason why you have cops.”
The host also suggested that some media outlets may deliberately block relevant information from reaching their audiences which could cause public outrage if Rittenhouse is acquitted.
“That’s because we are now in the business of misinforming the public to create conflict,” Gutfeld concluded.
The 18-year-old said he wasn’t looking for trouble when he went to Kenosha on August 25, 2020. On the stand, Rittenhouse told jurors he traveled to Wisconsin to provide first aid and that there wasn’t any “friction” between his group and the protestors before the shootings occurred.
Rittenhouse continued that Joseph Rosenbaum, one of the victims, began threatening him and the others. But when Rittenhouse was asked to go into the details of the first shooting, he began to shake and sob uncontrollably. The court took a 10-minute recess following Rittenhouse’s breakdown.
The 18-year-old told the court he “didn’t intend to kill” the people he shot, but used deadly force to stop a threat. He later said he brought an AR-15 rifle to the protest as a form of protection and admitted to lying to a reporter that he was an EMT.
But as Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger cross-examined Rittenhouse, tensions began to rise in the courtroom between the prosecution and Judge Bruce Schroeder.
Schroeder told Binger that he was “on the borderline” of violating the defendant’s right to remain silent after the attorney commented it was the first time Rittenhouse was telling his side of the story. The judge then sent the jury to the library and yelled at Binger for attempting to bring up a new issue without advance notice by opening a new line of questioning that was ruled out in pre-trial.
“Don’t get brazen with me!” Judge Schroeder said, raising his voice. “You know very well that an attorney can’t go into these types of areas when the judge has already ruled.”
Schroeder later told the prosecution to “pick up the pace” of their questioning and sided with the defense over an argument as to whether zooming in on an iPad distorts the image.
During the end of Rittenhouse’s testimony, he also admitted that when he told a crowd he shot Rosenbaum because he had a gun, he was mistaken.
“At the time I was a little dazed and I was thinking of Mr. (Joshua) Ziminski with the pistol he had at the Duramax,” Rittenhouse said. When asked if he shot Rosenbaum because Ziminski had a pistol, Rittenhouse replied no.
The trial will continue on Thursday with testimony from three witnesses to be called by the defense. The judge told the court he’s “very confident” the trial will conclude on Tuesday.
Judge Bruce Schroeder told the court he is “very confident” the trial will conclude on Tuesday although there is a slim chance it will finish on Monday. He took a vote on whether the court would be in session over the weekend but ruled they would resume at the start of next week.
Rittenhouse’s legal team will call Dr. John Black, the use of force expert and Drew Hernandez, the eyewitness to the shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum. The defense will also call an expert on shell casings in connection to the allegation that Rittenhouse reracked his gun during the shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz
When asked if they expect to have excessive rebuttals, Prosecutor Thomas Binger indicated he didn’t think closing arguments would be extensive.
During his trial, prosecutors played a video of a crowd asking why Rittenhouse shot someone during the Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin after the 18-year-old fatally injured Rosenbaum.
Video from the incident indicates that Rittenhouse replied, “because he had a gun.”
But on the stand, the 18-year-old said “At the time I was a little dazed and I was thinking of Mr. (Joshua) Ziminski with the pistol he had at the Duramax.”
According to court testimony, Ziminski fired a handgun in the air nearby from where Rosenbaum was running toward Rittenhouse.
The prosecutor replied, “So you shot Mr. Rosenbaum because Joshua Ziminski had a pistol?”
Rittenhouse simply replied “no.”
“You don’t get to shoot someone else because someone else has a gun, right?” the prosecutor continued. Rittenhouse replied no again.
According to pool reports in the courtroom, jurors appeared “attentive” and took extensive notes as Rittenhouse first spoke during the defense’s questioning. They were especially focused on Rittenhouse recounting how he “feared for his life.”
During the cross-examination, jurors reportedly “began to tire and took fewer notes.”
Defense Attorney Richards objected to a video the prosecution wants to use, arguing that the “pinch and zoom” feature on the iPad utilizes artificial intelligence that will distort the image with extra pixels.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger argued that the zoom in feature will not alter the image and it is an everyday part of life with Apple technology that the jury understands.
“It’s a fundamental part of our lives these days,” Binger said, likening iPad and iPhone zoom to using a magnifying glass 100 years ago.
Judge Bruce Schroeder sided with the defense and said the prosecution should have an expert testify that enlarging an image with zoom is not distortion.
“You need to assure me that it is a reliable method that does not distort what is depicted,” Judge Schroeder said.
During the prosecution’s cross-examination, the defense objected to a line of questioning, arguing that Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger asked the same question to Rittenhouse earlier.
Binger assured the judge he was inquiring about a different point than he touched on previously.
Judge Schroeder allowed Binger to continue but told him to “pick up the pace” of his questioning.
Rittenhouse responded “yeah I did,” according to the video that was played in court. However, Rittenhouse testified that he did not point his gun at the man.
When Binger asked “why he lied,” Rittenhouse said he was not lying, but rather using sarcasm at that moment to avoid conflict.
Rittenhouse said he “shrugged off” the accusation and when he said “yeah I did,” he meant he did not.
“I thought it would be the best way to avoid conflict,” Rittenhouse said. “He was accusing me of something I didn’t do so the best thing to do was walk away.”
Later, Rittenhouse did admit he lied that he was an EMT to a reporter.
Rittenhouse said he was an EMT when asked by Daily Caller reporter Richie McGinniss, according to a video.
“You’re not a certified EMT, you’re not an EMT of any kind, you weren’t on that night, correct?” Binger asked.
Rittenhouse responded “yes” and Binger asked if Rittenhouse lied.
“I told him I was an EMT, but I wasn’t,” Rittenhouse said.
“You knew you were being interviewed by someone in the media when you told that lie, didn’t you?” he asked, to which Rittenhouse responded “yes.”
“If you didn’t think there was friction with the crowd, and you were out there trying to help, why did you expect there to be danger?” Prosecutor Thomas Binger asked.
Rittenhouse said he saw people from the previous night get assaulted, including someone who was putting out a fire. He added that he brought the gun in case someone attacked him.
“I didn’t think I would be put in a situation where I would have to defend myself,” Rittenhouse said.
When asked again why he would think someone would attack him, Rittenhouse said “I don’t know.”
Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi points out ADA Binger’s comments about Rittenhouse’s right to remain silent and his line of questioning about a video that was previously ruled inadmissible.
Chirafisi said the prosecution was acting in “bad faith.” If granted, a mistrial with prejudice means the state cannot refile charges against Rittenhouse.
While recounting the first shooting incident, Rittenhouse began sobbing and could not get through his testimony. The Judge had to call for a short break so Rittenhouse could calm down and return to the stand.
At the start of his cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger commented on Rittenhouse’s silence on the incident before the trial, noting this is the first time he’s told his side of the story after hearing witnesses give their testimony.
Judge Bruce Schroeder said Binger was “on the borderline” of violating Rittenhouse’s Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
“This is a grave constitutional violation for you to talk about the defendant’s silence,” Judge Schroeder said. “You’re right on the borderline. You may be over. But it better stop.”
Minutes later, Schroeder grew angrier with Binger and sent the jury to the library.
Schroeder yelled at Binger for attempting to bring up a new issue without advance notice. He said the prosecution was opening a new line of questioning that was ruled out in pre-trial.
Binger said he was attempting to impeach Rittenhouse with a video in which Rittenhouse can be heard saying he wishes he had his gun after watching videos of shoplifters two weeks before the events in Kenosha.
“Don’t get brazen with me!” Judge Schroeder said, raising his voice. “You know very well that an attorney can’t go into these types of areas when the judge has already ruled.”
The judge said he does not “want to have another issue as long as this case continues” and the defense said it will file a motion for a mistrial with prejudice if another incident occurs.
FULL STORY: Rittenhouse Trial Heats Up as Judge Screams at DA: ‘Don’t Get Brazen With Me’
“Everybody you shot at that night, you intended to kill. Correct?” Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger asked.
Rittenhouse said he “didn’t intend to kill them.”
“I intended to stop the people who were attacking me,” he said. “I did what I had to do to stop the person who was attacking me.”
Rittenhouse admitted that he used deadly force, but denied Binger’s assertion that he “knew he was going to kill” the people he shot.
“I didn’t know it was going to kill them, but I used deadly force to stop the threat,” Rittenhouse said.
He said he saw Mr. Rosenbaum and heard Mr. Ziminski instruct Rosenbaum to “get him and kill him.” Then he said Rosenbaum was chasing him and grabbed his gun.
“I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun,” Rittenhouse said.
When asked by the Defense Attorney what he did next, Rittenhouse said “I shoot him,” adding he shotRosenbaum four times.
Rittenhouse said he then ran to the police because he “didn’t do anything wrong” and was defending himself.
He then said Anthony Huber hit him in the neck with his skateboard. Rittenhouse said he got “lightheaded,” “almost passed out” and “stumbled to the ground.”
On the ground, he saw someone, who Rittenhouse said was not identified, running towards him after he pulled up his rifle.
When the man ran up and “jumps at” him, Rittenhouse said he fired two shots as the man’s boot was making contact with his face.
“He would have stomped my face in if I didn’t fire,” he said.
Next, he recounts Huber running up to him and hitting him with his skateboard a second time and grabbing his gun. As he felt his riffle strap coming off of his body, Rittenhouse said he fired one shot.
Then, Rittenhouse said Gaige Grosskreutz ran up to him with a pistol in his hand. Once Grosskreutz lowered his arm and pointed his pistol at his head, Rittenhouse said he fired his gun.
He said he shot Grosskreutz once and left because he was “no longer a threat.”
After the shootings, Rittenhouse said he was “in shock,” “freaking out” and said his “head was spinning.”
He said he walked up to the police with his rifle behind him so police “didn’t see [him] as a threat.”
When he approached a police car, he said “I just shot somebody.”
Rittenhouse recalls the officer in the car told him to step back or he would get pepper sprayed. He said the office hold him to “go home.”
He added that he could not turn himself in to the Kenosha Police Department because the building was barricaded off with a fence. He said he went home and his mother drove him to the Antioch Police Department in Illinois to turn himself in.
The court has taken a 10-minute break.
“The only thing that happened is the person who attacked me first threatened to kill me twice,” Rittenhouse said. He identified that person as Joseph Rosenbaum.
Rittenhouse said Rosenbaum was walking with a steel chain and he had a blue mask around his face.
“He was just mad about something. Me and [Ryan] Balch were asking people if they needed medical help. And then he screamed, ‘If I catch any of you fkers alone, I’m going to fking kill you,’” Rittenhouse said.
He said Rosenbaum threatened him a second time.
“[Rosenbaum] said, ‘I’m going to cut your f**king hearts out,’ and, I’m not going to repeat the second word, but, ‘Kill you n-words,’” Rittenhouse said.
He said he “went down there to provide first aid.”
He said he put out a fire at a church. He adds that he went to put out a fire at the high school, but someone else put it out before he arrived.
Rittenhouse also testified that he helped wrap a woman’s injured ankle and helped Ryan Balch flush his eyes out after he said someone threw a chemical bomb.
Later he said he bought two riffle slings for him and Black. Rittenhouse said the sling was a “retainer” to use if he was healing someone with first aid at the protests. He said the sling would allow him to dangle the riffle behind him so no one would pick it up and take it from the ground.
Rittenhouse also said he had a bulletproof vest that was given to him by the Grayslake Police Department and he gave the vest to Nick Smith.
“I said, ‘Here Nick [Smith], I don’t really need my bullet proof vest, I’m going to be helping people with first aid.’ And I gave him my bullet proof vest,” Rittenhouse said.
Richards asked if Rittenhouse if he came “looking for trouble” in Kenosha on August 25, 2020.
“No,” Rittenhouse responded.
Rittenhouse also testified that he lives with his mother and two sisters. He said he graduated high school and is currently studying nursing at Arizona State University.
