Court Proceedings Against Illinois Teen Charged With Kenosha Protest Shootings Will Continue

Friday, December 4th, 2020 -- 1:01 PM

(AP) -There is enough evidence to warrant a trial for an Illinois 17-year-old accused of killing two men and wounding a third during a night of unrest in Wisconsin, a court commissioner ruled Thursday after a contentious hearing in which the defendant’s lawyer tried to show he had acted in self-defense.

Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, is charged with homicide and attempted homicide for the Aug. 25 fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz during a night of unrest two days after the police shooting in Kenosha of Jacob Blake, a local Black man.  During a preliminary hearing conducted via video, Kenosha County Circuit Court Commissioner Loren Keating found that there was enough probable cause for the case to proceed to trial. Rittenhouse, who wore a covering over his nose and mouth, attended the Zoom hearing from the office of his attorney, Mark Richards.

Rittenhouse told police he was attacked while guarding someone’s business and that he fired in self-defense. He was freed from jail last month after posting $2 million bond, with most of the money raised through a legal defense fund set up by conservatives who view him as a patriot who was protecting other people’s property.  Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement have painted Rittenhouse as a trigger-happy white supremacist who was in Kenosha that night to provoke a response.

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