As the Kyle Rittenhouse trial winds down, all eyes are on the jurors who will to determine the teen’s fate on multiple charges this week in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Judge Bruce Schroeder read out jury instructions in court on Monday after dismissing one of the charges against Mr Rittenhouse, possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. He is now facing five charges, all felonies. The final makeup of the jury will be set before a verdict is ultimately rendered.
On Tuesday, the judge placed slips of paper with numbers for each of the 18 potential jurors. In an unusual move, Mr Rittenhouse was then instructed to draw six of those slips of paper. Those jurors were dismissed, leaving 12 remaining jurors who are deliberating the case.
Following more than eight hours of deliberation on Tuesday, jurors were sent home and are returning to the courtroom on Wednesday.
Closing arguments took place on Monday, and Judge Schroeder had instructed both sides to keep things brief. The defence also has a pending motion for a mistrial with prejudice, which the judge said he would take under advisement. At the start of Monday’s hearing, Judge Schroeder said he was not ready to rule yet.
Should that motion be denied, legal experts say it’s impossible to predict how long the jury will take to come to a verdict after reviewing evidence from eight days of testimony.
Mr Rittenhouse’s attorneys have argued that he acted in self-defence when he shot three men during racial justice protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha on 25 August 2020. Two of the men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, were killed and the third, Gaige Grosskreutz, was wounded.
Mr Rittenhouse took the stand on Wednesday and described how he feared for his life when the men attacked him. He said he didn’t mean to kill anyone but fired his AR-15 to protect himself.
Wisconsin’s self-defence law permits use deadly force only if “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm”. Jurors will decide whether Rittenhouse believed he was under that level of threat and whether hat belief was reasonable.
The prosecution has painted Mr Rittenhouse as an instigator of the violence on the night of the shootings and claimed that he was not legally allowed to carry his AR-15 because he was just 17 at the time.
Mr Rittenhouse faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges against him, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree attempted intentional homicide.
Prosecutors asked the judge to allow for the jury to consider lesser charges against Mr Rittenhouse on the counts involving the shootings of Mr Huber and Mr Grosskreutz, which would lower the burden of proof for conviction. On Monday, the judge moved to allow lesser charges for the fourth and fifth counts.
The Kenosha County Sheriff released a statement about “verdict preparedness” last week, saying the trial is being closely monitored because “we recognize that some varying opinions and feelings revolve around the trial that may cause concerns.”
Police in Chicago, about 65 miles south of Kenosha, are also preparing for unrest by cancelling days off for all sworn personnel.
