Rittenhouse Trial: Prosecution, Defense Debate Self-Defense In Opening Arguments

The prosecution and defense sparred over whether or not Kyle Rittenhouse’s deadly actions last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, constituted reasonable self-defense in opening arguments on Tuesday.

Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and wounded a third in Kenosha on August 25, 2020, after traveling from nearby Antioch, Illinois, to help protect residents and businesses. Protests in the city had devolved into riots over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Looters and rioters raged over the city, wreaking havoc and causing severe damage to property.

Amid the chaos, Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, shot and killed two men, 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber. Rittenhouse also wounded a third man Gaige Grosskreutz, who was 26 at the time. Rittenhouse turned himself in to the police in Antioch early the next morning, roughly an hour and a half after firing his last shot.

Rittenhouse is facing six total charges, five felonies and one misdemeanor. The felony charges are intentional homicide, reckless homicide, attempted intentional homicide, and two counts of reckless endangerment. The misdemeanor charge is underage possession of a deadly weapon. Rittenhouse faces the possibility of life in prison.

Many of the facts of the case are agreed upon by the prosecution and defense. Rittenhouse, after seeing the destruction the riots had had on Kenosha over several days, went to the town on the morning of August 25 to help clean up and repair some of the damage. While there, he met with the owner of one Kenosha business, a car dealership, Car Source.

Car Source had three locations in Kenosha prior to the riots. One of its locations was essentially destroyed on August 24, 2020, and most of the vehicles in its lot were torched. After meeting with the business owner on the morning of the 25, Rittenhouse and a friend decided to come to Kenosha that night to help defend the remaining Car Source locations.

Rittenhouse showed up in Kenosha with a semi-automatic rifle and a first aid bag, which he said he brought to render first aid to anyone who needed it. He began the night at one Car Source location before leaving to walk to a nearby gas station. His original route back to the Car Source was blocked by the police. Soon after Rittenhouse walked away from the police, events escalated and resulted in him shooting two men and wounding a third.

The Prosecution

The prosecution, while not criticizing Rittenhouse’s motives for traveling

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