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Kyle Rittenhouse Will Probably Get Away with Murder

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On August 25th, 2020 a 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse crossed state lines with an illegally obtained AR-15, and shot three people, two of whom died. The victims who died were named Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber. He is currently on trial, and even testified on Wednesday.

Image Wikimedia Commons.

What Happened?

On August 23rd, 2020 Kenosha, WI police shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake, a Black man who is now fully paralyzed from the waist down due to the near-fatal bullet wound. Kenosha then erupted in protests, which lead to property damage and looting. 

On the third night, Rittenhouse drove to Kenosha from Antioch, Ill, where a friend of his had purchased and stored the gun Rittenhouse used to kill two people.

There is no video of the first shooting, but according to Chicago news stations and cell phone footage show that after Rittenhouse had made his first kill, the crowd shouted chants demanding to know “Why’d you shoot him?”.

Then, video footage shows Rittenhouse directly opening fire from a prone position into a crowd of people. From that point two men are shown to have tried to disarm Rittenhouse. The men were armed with a small, six-bullet revolver and a skateboard. During the skirmish, Rittenhouse open fire once again, killing one of the people trying to stop him. 

Kyle Rittenhouse was not arrested that night.

What’s Happening with the Trial?

Apparently this is the first trial in American history where the accused actually gets to enjoy presumed innocence.

So far the judge in the case has banned the use of calling the victims of the shootings, “victims”. He did, however, allow them to be called “rioters”, “looters”, or “arsonists”. So what is curious about that is where is their presumed innocence? If it’s standard practice in a courtroom to not use “victim” then it should stand to reason that it would be standard practice not to belittle victims. But unfortunately, all too often the inverse is true. 

Early Wednesday the judge of the trial yelled at the prosecuting attorney, while consistently being confused about the events of the trial that had literally just taken place. Granted, the judge was angry that the prosecutor had questioned Rittenhouse’s post-arrest silence. 

Miranda Rights were decided by the Supreme Court in 1966 from the trial Miranda v. Arizona, where an alleged rapist and abductor was allegedly coerced into a confession. The case was overturned, but Miranda was later retried and died in prison.

What’s curious, is the judge has stated that he has allowed these kinds of questions in his court before, just not on this case. 

Rittenhouse Testimony

On Wednesday November 10th, Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand. At first, Rittenhouse asserted that the first killing, of Joseph Rosenbaum, was one of self-defense. But during cross-examination by the prosecutors, Rittenhouse admitted that he knew Rosenbaum was unarmed. Rittenhouse claims he was afraid that Rosenbaum would have taken his gun and killed people.

When asked about the killing of Anthony Huber, Rittenhouse once again claims that he did not intend to hurt the victim, but during cross-examination, the prosecutors efficiently tear apart that claim. The prosecution laid out that there is no way Rittenhouse didn’t intend harm. Rittenhouse admitted that the gun was pressed against Huber’s chest when he pulled the trigger and that the gunshot was intentional.  A gunshot to the chest when the barrel was pressed against the victim’s body is just about a guaranteed death sentence.

Rittenhouse also “cried” during his testimony, but from the video and photos, it’s not super convincing. Since I am not a journalist I have no problem stating that I swear sometimes he looks like he’s desperately trying to hold back a smirk. Watch the linked video and think about when a child is caught doing something they know they aren’t supposed to do. What do they do? Over-explain and cry for sympathy.  At the 1:25 mark you can visibly see Rittenhouse forcing himself to cry.

An approximation of Rittenhouse’s testimony below.

Key Witnesses

Gaige Grosskreutz is the key witness for the prosecution. He was one of the men that tried to stop Rittenhouse after Rittenhouse had killed Joseph Rosenbaum. Grosskreutz was the one that had a gun with him. He is stated to have pointed his gun at Rittenhouse to try to disarm the teen. So far I have not seen statements that Grosskreutz ever fired his weapon.

One of the defense’s key witnesses is Richie McGinnis, a man who films interviews for the Daily Caller, a right-wing propaganda and misinformation machine. I refuse to link to their site. Other witnesses for Rittenhouse’s defense were other paramilitaries, right-wing extremists like Ryan Balch. Balch was standing guard alongside Rittenhouse. Right-wing media outlets (Daily Caller) are reporting that a witness for the defense claims the prosecution asked him to change his testimony.

Because we all know that impulsive right-wing conservatives never lie.

A man holds a “Free Kyle” sign near Bradford High School during President Donald Trump’s visit on September 1, 2020

The Jury

According to Bin News, the jury consists of 20 people. 11 of them are women, with 9 men. Only one person is reported to be a person of color. How surprising. You only need one person to vote not guilty for a hung trial. If that happens double jeopardy rules do not apply, and Rittenhouse can be tried again without discovery of new evidence. 

So Rittenhouse’s jury consists of a vast majority of white people in a red-leaning state. I wish everyone got a jury of their actual peers like Rittenhouse has gotten.  

So What Does This Mean for the Country?

Unfortunately, it creates a precedent for out-of-state people armed to the teeth to come into your town to kill with impunity with illegally obtained weapons. I don’t know what will happen as far as backlash goes, but I doubt there will be protests like we had last year. The mood is different in our country. After nearly two years of a pandemic, I can see and feel that everyone is tired. I know I am.

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Sonny Curtin

Sonny Curtin

Sonny Curtin (they/them) is an absurdist, and not particularly tall. They are also a Co-Founder and Director of Development for Believe New York Philanthropies, a nonprofit in New York City. Their preferred prefix is Count, but they hope to one day be a Viceroy.

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