Kyle Rittenhouse Acquitted of All Charges

Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty by a jury Friday on all five criminal charges at his closely watched trial for killing two unarmed men, and shooting a third, armed man during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.

Jurors reached their verdict on their fourth day of deliberations.

Judge Bruce Schroeder then thanked the 12 jurors for their service and dismissed them.

On Wednesday, Rittenhouse’s lawyers asked the judge in the case to declare a mistrial on the grounds that they had received a copy of a drone video that was of inferior quality than the one available to prosecutors.

That video, prosecutors say, showed the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse pointing his AR-15-style rifle at protestors shortly before he fatally shot Anthony Huber, 26, and 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum with an AR-15-style rifle on Aug. 25, 2020.

The Antioch, Illinois, resident claimed he was acting in self-defense.

The killings occurred during civil unrest in Kenosha over the shooting two days earlier by a white police officer of a black man, Jacob Blake, who was left paralyzed from the waist down after being hit with seven rounds to his back.

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Rittenhouse faced five felony charges at the trial, which began Nov. 1: a single count each of first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, and a single count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

A sixth criminal count, possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under age 18, was dismissed by the trial judge on several grounds Monday before jurors got the case.

Kenosha business owners prepared for possible violence Monday, as closing arguments at the trial began. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers last week placed 500 members of the National Guard on standby in preparation for the verdict.

Rittenhouse has become a hero to some conservatives who say he was justified in killing Huber and Rosenbaum, and injuring 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz in the shootings, which were captured on video and distributed across social media platforms.

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