KENOSHA, Wis. Jurors deliberating on charges against Kyle Rittenhouse returned Wednesday for a second day of deliberations in his murder trial after failing to reach a quick verdict on whether he was the instigator of a night of carnage in Kenosha or a concerned citizen attacked while attempting to protect property.
Around two hours into the second day of deliberations, jurors requested to view video presented during the trial, and the judge stated that he would determine the appropriate procedures.
Prosecutor Thomas Binger said the jury should be allowed to view any video they wanted as many times as they wanted, while defence attorney Mark Richards said he would object to the jury viewing video taken by a drone showing Rittenhouse pointing his gun at protesters prior to the shootings.
Tuesday, the 12-member jury deliberated for an entire day without reaching a decision.
The case was assigned to an anonymous jury after Judge Bruce Schroeder granted Rittenhouse a minor role in selecting the final panel of 12 who would decide his fate. Rittenhouse drew numbered slips from a raffle drum to determine who would deliberate and who would be dismissed as alternates from the 18 jurors who sat through the case.
Typically, this function is performed by a court clerk, not by the defendant. Schroeder stated that he has been requiring defendants to do so for “at least 20 years.”
Though protests have remained relatively quiet around the courthouse throughout the trial, a man arrived Wednesday carrying a long rifle and what appeared to be body armour. He left after being approached by police and reappeared moments later without the gun. The man had spent Tuesday shouting anti-Black Lives Matter statements into a megaphone and had been involved in an altercation with another protester earlier that day.
Rittenhouse, 18, faces the death penalty if convicted on the most serious charge of murdering two men and wounding a third during a night of protests against racial injustice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the summer of 2020. The former police youth cadet, like those he shot, is white.
Rittenhouse testified that he acted in self-defense, but prosecutors contended that he initiated the violence. The case has become a flashpoint in the United States’ debate over guns, protests for racial justice, vigilantism, and law and order.
The jury appeared to be predominately white in complexion. During the selection process, prospective jurors were not asked to identify their race, and the court did not provide a racial breakdown.
While the jury deliberated, dozens of protesters gathered outside the courthouse, some in support of Rittenhouse and others opposed. Some conversed quietly with their opponents, while others hurled insults. One woman was repeatedly heard referring to some Rittenhouse supporters as “white supremacists.”
Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin, who faced criticism in 2020 for his response to the Kenosha protests, urged calm during the jury’s deliberations. He announced last week that 500 National Guard members would be available for duty in Kenosha if necessary.
“I urge peace in Kenosha and throughout our state, regardless of the outcome of this case,” Evers tweeted. “I urge everyone who wishes to assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights in any community to do so safely and peacefully,” he continued.
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The large protests anticipated by some did not materialise during the testimony phase of the trial. On most days, only a handful of demonstrators gathered on the courthouse steps, and the high fence that surrounded the structure during last year’s unrest has been removed.
Rittenhouse was 17 years old when he travelled to Kenosha from Antioch, Illinois, in an effort, he claimed, to protect property from rioters in the days following the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, now 28.
Prosecutor Thomas Binger stated during closing arguments Monday that Rittenhouse was a “want tobe soldier” who initiated the deadly chain of events by bringing a rifle to a protest and pointing it at protesters just before he was pursued.
However, Rittenhouse attorney Mark Richards contended that the firm was ambushed by a “crazy person” — Rosenbaum.
Rittenhouse testified that Rosenbaum pursued him and grabbed his rifle, instilling fear in him that the weapon would be used against him. His description of Rosenbaum’s behaviour was largely corroborated by video and several prosecution witnesses.
Huber was shot and killed after he was captured on video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard. And Grosskreutz admitted that he was shooting Rittenhouse with his own gun.
Schroeder stated in his jury instructions that in order to accept Rittenhouse’s claim of self-defense, jurors must find that he believed he faced an unlawful threat and that the force he used was reasonable and necessary.
