Kyle Rittenhouse acted like a moth “to a flame” and was “drawn to the chaos” in Kenosha last year when he needlessly gunned down two people, a Wisconsin prosecutor said during his opening statement Tuesday.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger told a jury of 11 women and nine men that Rittenhouse had no justification gunning down Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Resenbaum, 36, on Aug. 25, 2020.
“One of things we all agreed on yesterday is life is more important than property,” Binger said. “Like moths to a flame, tourists from outside our of community were drawn to the chaos here in Kenosha. People from outside of Kenosha came in and contributed to that chaos and it caused many of our citizens to fear for their safety.”
He continued: “But out of the hundreds of people that came to Kenosha during that week, the hundreds of people that were out on the streets that week, the evidence will show that the only person that killed anyone was the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse.”
On multiple occasions, Binger reminded jurors that Rittenhouse was responsible for the only fatalities of protests.
Binger addressed 20 jurors, of which a dozen will be selected for deliberations after closing arguments. The rest will be alternates.
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Defense lawyers are expected to argue that Rittenhouse, from nearby Antioch, Illinois, acted in self-defense and was in Kenosha that night to defend private property and deliver first aid to anyone injured in protests.
Protesters had taken to the streets of Kenosha after the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer on Aug. 23, 2020.
The unrest in Kenosha drew Rittenhouse, then 17, across state lines, armed with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
Kenosha is about 20 miles northeast of Antioch and 40 miles south of Milwaukee.
Rittenhouse is charged with reckless homicide, intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide after he fatally shot Rosenbaum and Huber, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz during the protest, authorities said.
Rittenhouse has also been charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 and two counts of recklessly endangering safety after officials said he fired his weapon near others.
The case is a cause célèbre for many gun rights conservatives, believing Rittenhouse was well within his rights to deadly force that night.
MyPillow Inc. founder Mike Lindell and former “Silver Spoons” child actor Ricky Schroder played key roles in “putting us over the top” in coming up with $2 million for bail for Rittenhouse, his then-attorney Lin Wood said.
This is a developing story, please refresh here for updates.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
