Rittenhouse jury deliberated for more than 25 hours
Rittenhouse, wearing a dark jacket with a burgundy tie and shirt, stood behind the defense table as each not guilty verdict was read. He tried to hold back tears, then sobbed and appeared to collapse forward on the table, where his lawyer embraced him.
Rittenhouse’s mother gasped after the final verdict was read, her head falling into her hands.
The panel of five men and seven women deliberated more than 25 hours over the past four days in a closely watched case that polarized an already divided nation. The verdict cannot be appealed.
Gov. Tony Evers, in a statement, called for peace on the streets and said the trial has “reopened wounds that have not yet fully healed.”
Jurors seemed ill-at-ease as verdict was read
Since the shootings on August 25, 2020, the case pitted Americans who saw Rittenhouse as an armed teen vigilante against those who viewed him as a citizen taking up arms to protect businesses from looters and rioters.
The judge praised the jury, saying he “couldn’t have asked for a better jury.”
Some jurors appeared fatigued in the jury box as the verdicts were read — their hands on their chins or rubbing their eyes, according to a pool reporter. Others appeared ill-at-ease, their arms across their chests.
After the verdict was announced, lead prosecutor Thomas Binger told the court, “The jury has represented our community in this trial and has spoken.”
Binger, in a statement, said, “While we are disappointed with the verdict, it must be respected… We ask that members of our community continue to express their opinions and feelings about this verdict in a civil and peaceful manner.”
The family of one of the victims, Anthony Huber, said in a statement “there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son.”
“It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street,” the statement said of the verdict.
“We hope that decent people will join us in forcefully rejecting that message and demanding more of our laws, our officials, and our justice system.”
On a cold, sunny afternoon, crowds gathered outside the courthouse after the verdict.
“We want the nation to know the nation that you live in now isn’t the … United States that we used to live in,” said Justin Blake, uncle of Jacob Blake, whose shooting by police last summer sparked the protests where Rittenhouse showed up with his gun.
The prosecution faced an uphill challenge in the case because Wisconsin law requires the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Rittenhouse did not act in self-defense. But there are limits to a self-defense claim.
“The defendant may intentionally use force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if the defendant reasonably believed that the force used was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself,” the jury instructions explain.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself,” he testified.
Rittenhouse was charged with five felonies: first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. Jurors are also able to consider lesser offenses for two of the five counts. If convicted on the most serious charge, Rittenhouse faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a misdemeanor weapons possession charge and a non-criminal curfew violation prior to deliberations.
What happened in the trial
“That is what provokes this entire incident,” Binger said in closing arguments. “When the defendant provokes this incident, he loses the right to self-defense. You cannot claim self-defense against a danger you create.”
The prosecution portrayed the three other people who confronted the teen as “heroes” trying to stop what they believed to be an active shooting. Binger also questioned the teenager’s decision to take a gun into the city in the first place, calling him a “chaos tourist.”
In closing arguments, defense attorney Mark Richards said Rittenhouse feared for his life when he opened fire.
“Every person who was shot was attacking Kyle. One with a skateboard, one with his hands, and one with his feet, one with a gun,” Richards said. “Hands and feet can cause great bodily harm.”
The trial featured more than a dozen videos from the night that showed what happened before, during and after the shootings. Most of the facts of what happened that night were not up for debate — rather, at the heart of the trial was the analysis of Rittenhouse’s actions and whether they can be considered “reasonable.”
CNN’s Mike Hayes, Carma Hassan and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.
