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u.s. news Diasabra 20 November 2021

Jury finds Rittenhouse not guilty in Kenosha shootings

(AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse plied equally. We have seen so looking for trouble that night
was acquitted of all charg- many black and brown youth and was responsible for cre-
es Friday after pleading killed, only to be put on trial ating a dangerous situation in
self-defense in the deadly posthumously, while the in- the first place by pointing his
Kenosha shootings that nocence of Kyle Rittenhouse rifle at demonstrators.
became a flashpoint in the was virtually demanded by
debate over guns, vigilan- the judge.” But Rittenhouse testified: “I
tism and racial injustice in didn’t do anything wrong. I
the U.S. Political figures on the right, defended myself.”
meanwhile, welcomed the
Rittenhouse, 18, began to verdict and condemned the Breaking into sobs at one
choke up, fell forward to- case brought against Ritten- point, he told the jury he
ward the defense table and house. opened fire after Rosenbaum
then hugged one of his attor- chased him and made a grab
neys as he heard a court clerk “All of us who knew what ac- for his gun. He said he was
recite “not guilty” five times. tually happened in Kenosha afraid his rifle was going to
His mother, seated nearby on last year assumed this would be wrested away and used to
a courtroom bench, gasped be the verdict,” tweeted Re- kill him.
in delight, cried and hugged publican former Wisconsin
others around her. Gov. Scott Walker. “Thank- Huber was then killed after
fully, the jury thought the hitting Rittenhouse in the
A sheriff’s deputy immedi- same.” head or neck with a skate-
ately whisked him out a back board, and Grosskreutz was
door. The case was part of an ex- shot after pointing a gun of
traordinary confluence of his own at Rittenhouse.
“He wants to get on with his trials that reflected the deep
life,” defense attorney Mark divide over race in the Unit- After the verdict, Huber’s
Richards said. “He has a huge ed States: In Georgia, three parents, Karen Bloom and
sense of relief for what the white men are on trial in the John Huber, said the out-
jury did to him today. He killing of Ahmaud Arbery, come “sends the unaccept-
wishes none of this ever hap- while in Virginia, a trial is able message that armed ci-
pened. But as he said when underway in a lawsuit over vilians can show up in any
he testified, he did not start the deadly white-supremacist town, incite violence, and
this.” rally held in Charlottesville then use the danger they have
in 2017. created to justify shooting
He said Rittenhouse, who people in the street.”
wants to be a nurse, is in The bloodshed in Kenosha
counseling for post traumatic took place during a summer Video and testimony from
stress disorder and will prob- of sometimes-violent pro- some of the prosecution’s
ably move away because “it’s tests set off across the U.S. by own witnesses seemed to
too dangerous” for him to the killing of George Floyd in buttress Rittenhouse’s claim
continue to live in the area. Minneapolis and other cases of self-defense.
involving the police use of
Rittenhouse was charged force against Black people. Witnesses described Rosen-
with homicide, attempted baum as “hyperaggressive”
homicide and reckless endan- Rittenhouse was 17 when he and said that he dared others
gering for killing two men went to Kenosha from his to shoot him and threatened
and wounding a third with home in nearby Antioch, Il- to kill Rittenhouse earlier
an AR-style semi-automatic linois, after businesses were that night. A videographer
rifle in the summer of 2020 ransacked and burned in the testified Rosenbaum lunged
during a tumultuous night of nights that followed Blake’s for the rifle just before he
protests over the shooting of years behind bars. Americans condemning Rit- shooting. Rittenhouse car- was shot, and a pathologist
a Black man, Jacob Blake, by tenhouse as a vigilante, while ried a weapon authorities said his injuries appeared to
a white Kenosha police offi- Kenosha County District At- others on the right hailed said was illegally purchased indicate his hand was over
cer. torney Michael Graveley said him as a hero who exercised for the underage young man, the barrel.
his office respects the jury’s his Second Amendment gun joining other armed civilians
Youtube video thumbnail decision, and he asked the rights and tried to put a stop on the streets. Also, Rosenbaum’s fian-
Rittenhouse, a former police public to “accept the verdicts to lawlessness. The reaction cee disclosed that he was on
youth cadet, said he went to peacefully and not resort to to the verdict reflected the Bystander and drone video medication for bipolar dis-
Kenosha to protect property violence.” same divide. captured most of the frenzied order and depression. Rit-
from rioters. He is white, as chain of events that followed: tenhouse’s lawyers branded
were those he shot. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Rittenhouse killed Joseph Rosenbaum a “crazy person.”
who announced last week Barnes, who is Black and a Rosenbaum, 36, then shot to
The anonymous jury, whose that 500 National Guard Democratic candidate for death protester Anthony Hu- Some civil rights activists saw
racial makeup was not dis- members stood ready in case U.S. Senate, denounced the ber, 26, and wounded dem- a racial double standard in
closed by the court but ap- of trouble after the verdict, outcome. He, like many civil onstrator Gaige Grosskreutz, the way the white gunman
peared to be overwhelmingly likewise pleaded for calm. rights activists, saw a racial now 28. was treated.
white, deliberated for close to double standard at work in
3 1/2 days. As he dismissed the jurors the case. Then-President Donald On the night of the shoot-
who sat in judgment in the Trump said it appeared Rit- ings, law enforcement of-
Rittenhouse could have got- politically combustible case, “Over the last few weeks, tenhouse had been “very vio- ficers saw Rittenhouse and
ten life in prison if found Circuit Judge Bruce Schro- many dreaded the outcome lently attacked.” Supporters other armed people on the
guilty on the most serious eder assured them the court we just witnessed,” Barnes donated more than $2 mil- streets despite a curfew and
charge, first-degree inten- would take “every measure” said. “The presumption of in- lion toward his legal defense. gave them bottles of water,
tional homicide, or what to keep them safe. nocence until proven guilty is with one officer heard saying
some other states call first- what we should expect from At trial, prosecutors por- over a loudspeaker, “We ap-
degree murder. Two other The shootings exposed a deep our judicial system, but that trayed Rittenhouse as a “wan- preciate you guys.”
charges each carried over 60 divide in the U.S., with some standard is not always ap- nabe soldier” who had gone