Kyle Rittenhouse Found Not Guilty On All Counts

Jurors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Friday declared Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts, capping off an intense trial surrounding the deadly unrest in that city last summer.

Rittenhouse, 18, would have faced a mandatory life sentence if found guilty and convicted of first-degree intentional homicide.

Jurors in the polarizing case said they had voted to acquit Rittenhouse, 18, of homicide, attempted homicide and other charges related to the August 2020 shootings in Kenosha, Wis.

Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, who was 26 at the time. Rittenhouse testified that he fired in self-defense and pleaded not guilty to all counts.

A Wisconsin jury on Friday found Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges in the fatal shooting of two men during protests in Kenosha nearly 15 months ago.

Rittenhouse, 18, from nearby Antioch, Ill., was charged with reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, on Aug. 25, 2020. The shootings occurred during protests days earlier over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by a White Kenosha police officer.

The 12-person panel also cleared Rittenhouse of attempted intentional homicide in the shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz, a paramedic from suburban Milwaukee, who was at the protests working as a medic. Rittenhouse was also acquitted on two counts of recklessly endangering safety and use of a dangerous weapon.

As the verdict was read, Rittenhouse began sobbing and collapsed at the defense table as families of the victims were seen crying in court. Rittenhouse, who testified at the trial, claimed self-defense.