Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges on Friday after testifying he acted in self-defense in the deadly Kenosha shootings that became a flashpoint in the debate over guns, vigilantism and racial injustice in the US.
Rittenhouse, 18, began to choke up, fell forward toward the defense table and then hugged one of his attorneys as he heard a court clerk recite “not guilty” five times. A sheriff’s deputy whisked him out a back door.
“He wants to get on with his life,” defense attorney Mark Richards said. “He has a huge sense of relief for what the jury did to him today. He wishes none of this ever happened. But as he said when he testified, he did not start this.”
Photo: AP
The verdict in the politically combustible case was met with anger and disappointment from those who saw Rittenhouse as a vigilante and a wannabe cop, and relief and a sense of vindication from those who regarded him as a patriot who took a stand against lawlessness and exercised his second amendment right to carry a gun and to defend himself.
Supporters donated more than US$2 million toward his legal defense.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights leader, said the verdict throws into doubt the safety of people who protest in support of black Americans.
“It seems to me that it’s open season on human rights demonstrators,” he said.
Rittenhouse was charged with homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering for killing two men and wounding a third with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle in the summer of last year during a tumultuous night of protests over the shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse, a then-17-year-old former police youth cadet, said that he went to Kenosha to protect property from rioters, but that he came under attack and feared for his life.
He is white, as were those he shot.
The anonymous jury, whose racial makeup was not disclosed by the court, but appeared to be overwhelmingly white, deliberated for close to three-and-a-half days.
US President Joe Biden called for calm, saying that while the outcome of the case “will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken.”
Former US president Donald Trump, who at the time of the shootings said it appeared Rittenhouse had been “very violently attacked,” issued a statement on Friday congratulating Rittenhouse on the verdict, adding “if that’s not self defense, nothing is!”
Rittenhouse could have gotten life in prison if found guilty on the most serious charge, first-degree intentional homicide, or what some other states call first-degree murder. Two other charges each carried more than 60 years behind bars.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said his office respects the jury’s decision, and he asked the public to “accept the verdicts peacefully and not resort to violence.”
Ahead of the verdict, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced that 500 National Guard members stood ready in case of trouble.
However, hours after the jury came back, there were no signs of any major protests or unrest in Kenosha.
As he released the jurors, Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder assured them the court would take “every measure” to keep them safe.
Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who is black and a Democratic candidate for US Senate, denounced the outcome.
He, like many civil rights advocates, saw a racial double standard at work in the case.
“Over the last few weeks, many dreaded the outcome we just witnessed,” Barnes said. “The presumption of innocence until proven guilty is what we should expect from our judicial system, but that standard is not always applied equally. We have seen so many black and brown youth killed, only to be put on trial posthumously, while the innocence of Kyle Rittenhouse was virtually demanded by the judge.”
Other political figures on the right welcomed the verdict and condemned the case brought against Rittenhouse.
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