Jury in Kyle Rittenhouse case stays out after first day of deliberations
Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate officially moved to the hands of 12 anonymous jurors Tuesday morning, as Kenosha and the rest of the nation anxiously awaited their verdict.
Jurors began their deliberation shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday. They were selected at random from a pool of 18.
The jury consists of five males, seven females; 11 white people and one person of color. The six alternates are an even split of white males and females.
They were selected as tense protests from supporters and critics of Rittenhouse played out on the steps of the Kenosha County Courthouse.
Judge Bruce Schroeder said he would not place time limits on the jury's deliberations, which ran from about 9:30 a.m. until roughly 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Rittenhouse himself helped randomly select his jury by grabbing slips of paper from a tumbler box, an unusual move that puzzled those watching online. Schroeder said he has allowed defendants to perform such a move for the last 20 years.
Lawyers for both parties were instructed to stay within 10 minutes of the courthouse in case the jury had any questions. They had just one request on Tuesday: to receive additional copies of jury instructions.
First, they asked for the first six pages, which focus on the principles of self-defense, intent and provocation. Hours later, they asked for copies of the remaining 29 pages of instructions.
During closing arguments Monday the prosecution and defense presented wildly different narratives of how Rittenhouse, then 17 years old, shot and killed two men – Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26 – and injured a third, Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, on Aug. 25, 2020, during civil unrest stemming from the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
According to the prosecution, Rittenhouse was a thrill-seeker who armed himself for potential violence he was not prepared to handle and initiated confrontation. To the defense, he came with noble notions of protecting property and serving as a medic, and acted in self-defense against a hostile crowd.
Jurors have five charges to consider after Schroeder on Monday dismissed a misdemeanor count of possession of a dangerous weapon by someone under 18 – which figured to be the prosecution’s best bet at a conviction.
Schroeder sided with the defense, which argued the dimensions of the AR-15-style rifle Rittenhouse carried with him the night of Aug. 25, 2020, fell within an exception in the law for 16- or 17-year-olds to legally carry rifles if they are not short-barreled.
The three biggest charges remaining are first-degree intentional homicide of Huber; first-degree reckless homicide of Rosenbaum; and attempted first-degree intentional homicide of Grosskreutz.
Rittenhouse, 18, also faces two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment for shooting at an unidentified man who kicked him in the face and for shooting near Richard McGinnis, a witness who was in the line of fire when Rittenhouse shot at Rosenbaum.
And still hanging over the trial’s head is Schroeder’s lack of a ruling on the defense’s request from last week for a mistrial with prejudice. After alleging prosecutorial overreach and requesting the mistrial last week, defense attorney Corey Chirafisi asked Schroeder Monday for a ruling on the matter, but the judge said he would do so later.
Legal experts have said it is somewhat unusual that Schroeder had not yet issued a ruling on the motion.
"I’m not sure why the judge has waited to rule," said Michael O'Hear, professor of criminal law at Marquette Law School, in an email. "It seems unlikely to me that he would have turned the case over to the jury if he expected to grant the mistrial."
Keith Findley, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, called the lack of decision "odd."
"The only reason I can think of for waiting is perhaps he wants to give the jury a chance to acquit so he doesn’t have to, but that’s speculation on my part," Findley, co-founder of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, said in an interview.
Ashley Luthern of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rittenhouse jury stays out after first day of deliberations
