Here & Now

Kenosha Braces for the Rittenhouse Verdict

Frederica Freyberg:

The murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha is expected to go to the jury on Monday. Ahead of that, this week jurors heard from the defendant himself during a full day of testimony.

Rittenhouse took the stand this week and broke down as he testified about how he was defending himself when he shot and killed two people and injured a third in the midst of chaotic protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He described why he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum.

Kyle Rittenhouse:

He was chasing me. I was alone. He threatened to kill me earlier in that night. I didn’t want to have to shoot him.

Frederica Freyberg:

Rittenhouse testified he did nothing wrong that he was defending himself. Rittenhouse faces life in prison if he is convicted of homicide, not an assured outcome. How will the community react with either a conviction or an acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse? The case draws response and emotion around issues of police conduct, gun rights and racial justice. Rittenhouse has gotten support from conservative backers including, no less, the former president. The police shooting that seriously injured Jacob Blake sparked the fiery protests that brought Rittenhouse to Kenosha bearing an AR-15. We turn to “Here & Now” reporter Will Kenneally now who is in Kenosha. Hi Will, thanks for being here.

Will Kenneally:

Hi Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what is the schedule for when the jury gets this case?

Will Kenneally:

So the jury has a long weekend. They were off today. They’ll be expected to be back in court Monday. That’s when they will hear closing arguments from both sides and receive jury instructions from the judge. Those closing arguments are expected to take maybe two and a half hours or less each. So the jury will receive the end of the case and start deliberations Monday evening.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know today attorneys and the judge were hashing out instructions for whether the prosecution could allow the jury to consider lesser charges if they can’t agree on more serious charges. What’s an example of this?

Will Kenneally:

So what that means is the prosecution has presented a slate of charges charging Kyle Rittenhouse with a slate of charges. This would allow the jury to consider lesser charges than what the prosecution has charged him for. So, for example, Rittenhouse faces first-degree intentional homicide related to the death of Anthony Huber. The jury could come back and say, you know what? We are not going to find a guilty verdict for that first-degree intentional homicide charge, but we could take up a second-degree, a lesser homicide charge, or a first-degree reckless homicide charge, come back with a guilty verdict on that. We’re kind of in flux here right now with the judge. He’s yet to rule whether he will allow the jury to consider those lesser charges. He may rule on that later today or tomorrow yet.

Frederica Freyberg:

And again this is something that the prosecution had brought forward as something they would like the judge to consider to be included in those instructions to the jury when they get the case.

Will Kenneally:

Right. Exactly. That will be part of the jury instructions that the judge will give them Monday right before the jury goes into deliberation.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, what is happening in terms of preparations in Kenosha for when that verdict does come in?

Will Kenneally:

So local officials say they are working with local, state and national officials to kind of tamp down any protests that might happen in the wake of a verdict. If you remember last summer, local officials were working with the National Guard to kind of guard municipal buildings, alleviate local officials to kind of do some police work in the streets. Evers just today — the governor activated some 500 National Guard troops to be on standby if local officials need them next week when the verdict comes back as they are anticipating. Activists too say they are in preparations for anything that might happen. We have yet to hear details on that. But we do know that preparations are in the works.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you see any kind of physical evidence of the kinds of preparations that people are talking about, in particular, you know, law enforcement? Any physical evidence of that by way of street closures or snow fencing or anything like that?

Will Kenneally:

Actually, so right now we are in the courthouse square, and if you can see behind me, last summer there was a big chain link fence, fencing in the courthouse. We don’t see any of that right now. No streets blocked so far. So things are all quiet right now. But we’ll see what happens next week when the jury goes into deliberations.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Will Kenneally, thanks very much for joining us from Kenosha.

Will Kenneally:

Thank you.