November 23, 2021
Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager responsible for killing two men and wounding another in Kenosha Wisconsin, USA, was just acquitted of the charges of murder and attempted murder. The trial garnered a lot of attention not because it was a race crime, because the men Rittenhouse shot were white. But the reason why everyone was out in Kenosha that night was something as equally as tragic.
Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, Gaige Grosskreutz travelled to Kenosha to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in August, 2020. The facts and details can be easily Googled, so we won’t go into too much detail other than to add that Rittenhouse was 17 years old at the time of the shootings and his victims were said to have been assaulting him at the time- the sole surviving victim even admitted to pointing a gun at Rittenhouse.
Rittenhouse claims to have travelled to Kenosha to “protest property” of a family friend. He travelled to Kenosha from Antioch Illinois, about an hour away. He has family in Kenosha so he wasn’t a total stranger to the community.
Rittenhouse has in his possession a firearm that he was not legally allowed to buy or carry in Kenosha, and he also had no business acting in the role of a security guard to confront anyone on the night his victims were killed.
Rittenhouse was acquitted by a jury last week, which has left the US and some parts of the world stunned. Stunned that Rittenhouse could have gotten away with cold blooded murder and did it under the guise of self-defence.
The self-defence issue is what people had a problem with, because how can Rittenhouse be defending himself in the middle of a protest that he brought a gun to? Well, I guess Wisconsin law allows you to carry weapons you are not legally allowed to have and go hunting for humans at a protest about gun violence.
The acquittal came down to the prosecution misreading the nature of the judge in that the judge really did not buy, from the jump-street, the argument that Rittenhouse came to Kenosha looking to “kill a few people.” In fact, the judge dismissed this prosecution from the moment they tried to make a case of Rittenhouse acting in a premediated manner and from there the prosecution fell apart. Was the judge on Rittenhouse’s side? People seemed to think that. But I think the judge was just trying to do his best in a widely publicised trial that he probably didn’t expect to be in.
The judge seemed “old school” too and probably didn’t take kindly to the media sensationalising the case and calling his verdict before it had a chance to be vetted in his court, the proper way it was supposed to be done.
Suffice to say, Rittenhouse is still a murder despite getting off on this. It also didn’t help that the survivor, Grosskreutz, got on the stand and said he pointed a gun at Rittenhouse.
Despite the emotionally charged state of this case, I wish Mr Rittenhouse all the best with his life as he is still only 18 years old. He may not even fully understand the gravity of the situation he is in. His conscience has to deal with his murders for the rest of his life. As for the families of the victims, I hope they can move forward after this verdict.