The charges against Rittenhouse in Kenosha County include first degree intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, who was carrying a skateboard when he was gunned down. A conviction on that charge alone carries a life sentence.
Comment: It fails to mention that Huber was chasing and attacking Rittenhouse at the time. A lot more than "carrying a skateboard", no?
Rittenhouse, 17, is being held in Illinois where he lives. He has a court hearing on Friday for his requested extradition to Kenosha. The public defender assigned to his case in Lake County, Illinois has declined to comment.
The charges were detailed in a criminal complaint released by Kenosha County's clerk of courts. The document is the first detailed disclosure of the case against Rittenhouse for his role in the violence that erupted on Tuesday night when armed militia members clashed with protesters in the city.
The protests started after Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in the back by a police officer on Sunday afternoon.
Rittenhouse was also charged with causing the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, a 36-year-old demonstrator who he shot in the parking lot of a used car dealer just before midnight on Tuesday, according to the complaint, which draws on multiple cell phone videos and witness accounts.
Comment: Again, he was being attacked. This reporting is downright irresponsible.
One video records Rittenhouse saying "I just killed somebody" after shooting Rosenbaum, the complaint says.
Rittenhouse was carrying a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style rifle and "was not handling the weapon very well," one witness states in the complaint. "The recovered magazine for this rifle holds 30 rounds of ammunition," the complaint says.
The complaint says one video shows Huber, with a skateboard in his right hand, approaching Rittenhouse when he was on the ground. Huber appears then to try and grab the gun from Rittenhouse with his left hand before Rittenhouse fires.
"Huber staggers away, taking several steps, then collapses to the ground. Huber subsequently died from this gunshot wound," the complaint says.
Comment: It's funny that Reuter's has chosen to spin this as a crazy gunman scenario. Whether it was right for Rittenhouse to be out there with a weapon is debatable, but his shots weren't unprovoked. Also unoted in the above article is that Rittenhouse turned himself into the police directly after the incident. Anyone who has seen the viral video circulating of the incident can see that.
Apparently Lin Wood, famous lawyer who represented Nick Sandman in the Covington case, is helping Rittenhouse to find representation and has set up a crowdfunding service after GoFundMe and Fundly both shut down campaigns for his legal defense fund.
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