See the update below, the jury was sent home again Wednesday night with no verdict reached.
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The jury in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse is entering the deliberation room this morning for the second time after closing arguments were delivered on Monday. The jury will be considering five charges, which were reduced from six on Monday after the judge tossed out the weapons charge since it did not apply to the gun Rittenhouse was carrying at the time.
Deliberations ended on Tuesday after a day of long hours. The jury opted to leave around 5:45 pm local time to return Wednesday morning.
A verdict is expected at some point on Wednesday, but not guaranteed as the jury may take longer to consider the various counts.
The live feed will begin around 10 am ET, 9 am local time in Kenosha:
Alternate Live Feeds: NBC News Now
Here’s a rundown of the list charges the jury will be considering:
- First Degree Reckless Homicide, Use of a Deadly Weapon (Joseph Rosenbaum)
- First Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety, Use of a Deadly Weapon (Richard McGinnis, a reporter for the Daily Caller, not injured but near Rosenbaum when Rittenhouse fired)
- First Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety, Use of a Deadly Weapon (unknown male)
- First Degree Intentional Homicide, Use of a Deadly Weapon (Anthony Huber)
- Attempt First Degree Intentional Homicide, Use of a Deadly Weapon (Gaige Grosskreutz)
The maximum potential sentence would be life in prison.
The trial adjourned on Monday with a strange closing from the prosecutor who praised the actions of rioters vandalizing the city of Kenosha and painted Rittenhouse as an “active shooter” being stopped by a crowd of heroes. The prosecutor also picked up and aimed Rittenhouse’s AR15 rifle at the jury with his finger on the trigger, a very dangerous and strange action for an attorney in any courtroom.
Here’s a rundown of the strangest moments from closing arguments on Monday courtesy of the New York Post:
1. At one point in his closing, Binger alarmingly picked up the AR-15 rifle that Rittenhouse had used and pointed the rifle at people in the courtroom with his finger on the trigger, imitating how Rittenhouse instigated the fatal shooting. “That is what provokes this entire incident,” he said.
2. In another strange moment, Binger argued that Rittenhouse “brought a gun to a fistfight” by bringing the firearm to the protest, using an image from Patrick Swayze’s iconic 1989 film “Road House.” The unique legal move was quickly ridiculed online.
“What you don’t do is you don’t bring a gun to a fistfight,” Binger said to the jury. “What the defendant wants you to believe is that because he’s the one who brought the gun, he gets to kill.”
3. Binger harshly mocked Rittenhouse for his “performance as a medic that night,” responding to a video taken that night in which Rittenhouse claimed he was an EMT.
4. Rittenhouse’s defense attorney Mark Richards wrapped up the defense’s closing arguments on Monday, boldly claiming that “Every person who was shot was attacking Kyle.”
“There was no threatening behavior that started this. Mr. Rosenbaum was hell-bent on causing trouble that night. He did what he did and he started this. There are tragic parts of it, but Kyle Rittenhouse’s behavior was protected under the law in the state of Wisconsin — the law of self-defense.”
“Hands and feet can cause great bodily harm,” he said.
Some 500 National Guard troops are standing guard in Kenosha for the eventual verdict that may come sometime today.
UPDATE
At 5:45 pm CT, the jury was sent home for the night on Tuesday. Deliberations will resume on Wednesday at 10 am ET.
UPDATE
Deliberations have resumed Wednesday morning. Live feed updated above.
There are also reports that prosecutors withheld high-definition drone video footage from the defense which could upend the trial entirely.
UPDATE
Once again, the jury was sent home for a second night after a long day of deliberations. Things will pick back up again Thursday morning.
