MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men, killing two of them and wounding the third, during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year. Rittenhouse has argued that he fired in self-defense after the men attacked him. Here’s a look at the charges:
FIRST-DEGREE RECKLESS HOMICIDE, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON
This felony charge is connected to the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, the first man Rittenhouse shot. Bystander video shows Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse through a parking lot and throwing a plastic bag at him. Rittenhouse flees behind a car and Rosenbaum follows. No video of the moment Rittenhouse pulled the trigger has surfaced yet, if any exists. Richard McGinnis, a reporter who was trailing Rittenhouse, told investigators that Rosenbaum tried to grab Rittenhouse’s gun, according to the criminal complaint. ADVERTISEMENT
Reckless homicide differs from intentional homicide in that prosecutors aren’t alleging Rittenhouse intended to murder Rosenbaum. Instead, they’re alleging Rittenhouse caused Rosenbaum’s death by showing an utter disregard for human life.
Former Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher said prosecutors’ decision to charge reckless instead of intentional homicide shows they don’t know what happened between Rittenhouse and Rosenbaum and what might have been going through Rittenhouse’s mind when he pulled the trigger.
The charge is a felony punishable by up to 60 years in prison. The dangerous weapon modifier carries another five years.
FIRST-DEGREE RECKLESSLY ENDANGERING SAFETY, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON
This felony charge is also connected to the Rosenbaum shooting. McGinnis told investigators he was in the line of fire when Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum. The charge is punishable by 12 1/2 years in prison. The weapons modifier carries another five years.
FIRST-DEGREE INTENTIONAL HOMICIDE, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON
This charge is connected to Anthony Huber’s death. Video shows Rittenhouse running down the street after shooting Rosenbaum when he falls to the street. Huber leaps at him and swings a skateboard at his head and neck and tries to grab Rittenhouse’s gun before Rittenhouse fires. The criminal complaint alleges Rittenhouse aimed the weapon at Huber.
Intentional homicide means just that — a person killed someone and meant to do it. Bucher said that if Rittenhouse pointed the gun at Rosenbaum and pulled the trigger that would amount to intentional homicide. However, self-defense would trump the charge.
“Why I intended to kill this individual makes the difference,” Bucher said.ADVERTISEMENT
The count carries a mandatory life sentence. The weapons modifier would add up to five years.
ATTEMPTED FIRST-DEGREE INTENTIONAL HOMICIDE, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON
This is the charge for Rittenhouse shooting Gaige Grosskreutz in the arm seconds after he shot Huber, and as Grosskreutz came toward him holding a pistol. Grosskreutz survived. Video shows Rittenhouse pointing his gun at Grosskreutz and firing a single round.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 60 years. The weapons modifier would add up to five more years.
FIRST-DEGREE RECKLESSLY ENDANGERING SAFETY, USE OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON
Video shows an unknown man leaping at Rittenhouse and trying to kick him seconds before Huber moves his skateboard toward him. Rittenhouse appears to fire two rounds at the man but apparently misses as the man runs away.
This charge is a felony punishable by 12 1/2 years in prison. The weapons modifier again would add up to five more years.
POSSESSION OF A DANGEROUS WEAPON BY A PERSON UNDER 18
Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle. He was 17 years old on the night of the shootings. Wisconsin law prohibits minors from possessing firearms except for hunting.
The charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months behind bars.
FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH AN EMERGENCY ORDER FROM STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Rittenhouse was charged with being out on the streets after an 8 p.m. curfew imposed by the city, a minor offense that carries a fine of up to $200. Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed the charge during the second week of trial after the defense argued that prosecutors hadn’t offered enough evidence to prove it.
___
The nation was abuzz seeing the video and subsequent clips of Rittenhouse on the stand crying as he recounted the events on August 25, 2020 —
NBC News reports — Kyle Rittenhouse told Wisconsin jurors Wednesday he had no choice but to fatally shoot two men and seriously wound a third, saying he was stopping “the person who was attacking me.”
Testifying in his own defense, Rittenhouse said he was protecting private property in Kenosha and providing first aid on Aug. 25, 2020, when his fatal confrontations with Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, unfolded.
Rittenhouse, facing two counts of homicide, described Rosenbaum as “the person who attacked me first and threatened to kill me twice.”
I personally side with the specific statement from the lone survivor of these attacks, Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a paramedic shot in the arm who stated, “To me, it seemed like a child who just gotten caught doing something that he wasn’t supposed to — more upset that he was caught and less upset about what he had done and what he had taken and the numerous lives that he affected through his actions that night” in an interview on Good Morning America.
I don’t sense remorse on either side. The series of events for me doesn’t add up. Rittenhouse and Grosskreutz contradict themselves with each new interview and account of what happened. First, Rittenhouse did point the gun, then he didn’t. Lives were lost and there seems to be no honest account of what really took place.
I’m no fan of tears in a factual conversation — once you introduce emotion it’s hard to go back to facts. This is definitely a tactic but fear of death is real. People do strange things when they feel they’re going to die. Some call for relatives, plead their case or give up the ghost.
@berniceking writes on Twitter: “It really saddens me that Kyle is referred to as a “kid who had to defend himself” by people who had no sympathy for Trayvon, who was walking home, unarmed and un-white.”
The right to defend oneself is on trial plus the AR-15 — I don’t want to anticipate or predict the outcome of this trial but this is feeling eerily familiar.
