Kenosha Shooter Kyle Rittenhouse

[popeyespappy]

I think it is unlikely Kyle Rittenhouse will be convicted of murder. A significant portion of the US population considers him to be hero. The chances are pretty good at least one of those people is going to end up on the jury. If one of them does the prosecution is going to have a hard time convincing them to vote guilty.  

Legally speaking Rittenhouse can’t claim self defense because he was committing another crime when he shot Joseph Rosenbaum. It is a misdemeanor for a 17 year old to be carrying a gun in public like he was. That isn’t going to stop his defense team from arguing that it was self defense though. They are going to try to make a case that it is wrong to send a 17 year old to jail for the rest of his life for doing something that an 18 year old would be allowed to do.

Whether or not it actually was self defense is going to hinge on what happened immediately before Rosenbaum started chasing Rittenhouse through the parking lot. If Rittenhouse initiated the aggression he was wrong, but it is pretty clear he was trying to disengage from the situation. In some places that is all it takes to allow for self defense. In others everything that happens after the initial aggression is the fault of the person that initiated it. I'm not sure where Wisconsin law says about that issue. And no, just walking around with a rifle doesn’t qualify as aggressive behavior. Once again, if Rittenhouse had been 18 years old walking around with a rifle is legal, and it doesn’t in and of itself constitute aggressive behavior.

In any case the defense team is going to argue Rosenbaum initiated the aggression. They going to show the jury videos of how Rittenhouse spent much of the day. The jury going to see him interacting non aggressively with others. Interviews with the press. Being thanked by the police for being there. Cleaning graffiti off walls.

Then then the jury is going to see a video of a highly agitated Joseph Rosenbaum shouting, “Shoot me n***a!” at a group of armed men. This will be followed with a video of Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse through a parking lot throwing something at him. A chase that ended with Rosenbaum getting shot.

They might even be told Rosenbaum was a pedophile who spent 12 years in prison for molesting two children and had an extensive history of violence again others.

They are also going to hear an audio clip recorded at the scene of a witness to the shooting saying someone other than Rittenhouse fired the first shots. Someone armed with a handgun. They are going to say Rittenhouse stopped running when someone else starting shooting then shot Rosenbaum after Rosenbaum tried to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle.

What happened after that isn’t even going to matter. If the jury buys into the self defense claim for the first shooting the next two people that got shot are going to be self defense too.

Huber doesn’t get shot until after he hit Rittenhouse in the head with a skateboard.



He won't shoot Gaige Grosskreutz



until after Grosskreutz pulls a gun.



Kyle Rittenhouse was an idiot. His choices led to the deaths of two people. Convincing 12 people it was murder, especially if an 18 year old could have gotten away with it, is going to be an uphill battle for the prosecution though.