The decision on whether or not to prosecute the teenager from Illinois who is accused of killing two Protestants and injuring a third in Kenosha to Wisconsin has been delayed until Sept. 25, officials said Friday.
An Illinois judge agreed to postpone Kyle Rittenhouse’s proposed hearing during a brief meeting that was streamed online. Rittenhouse is facing five criminal charges, including first-degree intentional manslaughter and first-degree reckless manslaughter, and a misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.
Rittenhouse did not appear in the live-streaming hearing, where his attorney, Jennifer Snyder, an assistant public defender in Lake County, Ill., Asked for the delay. The judge said Rittenhouse was allowed to speak to his mother by telephone and was in the process of hiring a lawyer.
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Rittenhouse, a White teenager who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle as he walked Kenosha’s streets with other armed civilians during this week’s protests, would receive a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder. Under Wisconsin law, anyone 17 or older is treated as an adult in the criminal justice system.
He was arrested Wednesday in Antioch, Ill., The town about 15 miles from Kenosha where he lives.
Rittenhouse was armed and on the streets of Kenosha, saying he protected businesses from Protestants, according to widely circulating mobile images. The shootings late Tuesday were largely captured on mobile video and posted online.
According to the criminal complaint, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, of Kenosha, followed Rittenhouse in a lot of a used car, where he threw a plastic bag at the youth and tried to take the weapon from him. The medical examiner found that Rosenbaum was shot in the groin and back – which broke his pelvis and perforated his right lung and liver – and his left hand. He also sustained a superficial wound to his left thigh and a grass wound to his forehead, the investigator said.
Kyle Rittenhouse, left, with back cap, walks Tuesday along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., With another armed citizen. (Adam Rogan / The Journal Times via AP)
Rittenhouse then walked down the street and was chased by several people who shouted that he had just shot one before stumbling and falling, according to the complaint and videos. Anthony Huber, 26, of Silver Lake, was shot in the chest after apparently trying to wrestle Rittenhouse’s gun, the complaint said.
Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, who appeared to be holding a gun, was then shot in the left arm to come to Rittenhouse, according to the complaint.
Rittenhouse’s lawyer, Lin Wood, said Thursday that the teenager was acting in self-defense.
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“From my point of view, it is important that the message is clear to other Americans who are being attacked that there will be legal resources available if false charges are brought against them,” he said. “Americans should never be deterred from exercising their right to self-defense.”
The fatal shootings occurred during unrest in the wake of the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black father of six who was partially paralyzed, his family said this week.
That shooting made Kenosha the last focal point in the fight against racial injustice that has plagued the country since the May 25 death of George Floyd while he was in Minneapolis police possession.
In this September 2019 selfie photo taken in Evanston, Ill., Adria-Joi Watkins poses with her second cousin Jacob Blake. (Thanks to Adria-Joi Watkins via AP)
The State Department of Justice on Friday released new information, including the names of two other officers at the scene when Blake was shot Sunday, as seen in moments captured on cellphone footage.
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State authorities previously identified the officer who allegedly shot Blake as Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha Police Department. The other two officers on the scene were Vincent Arenas, who had been with the department since February 2019 and had previously served with the U.S. Capitol Police Department, and Brittany Meronek, who joined the Kenosha Police Department in January.
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Authorities said officers responded to a call about a domestic dispute when they tried to arrest Blake, although they did not explain why. Sheskey allegedly shot Blake while holding on to his shirt after he and Arenas used Tasers twice on him without success, the department said in a news release Friday. State agents later recovered a knife from the floor on the side of the driver of the car, the department said. State authorities did not say Blake threatened anyone with a knife.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
