- Kyle Rittenhouse, the defendant in this case,
first emerged into the national consciousness last year.
There were protests going on in Kenosha, Wisconsin,
which is about an hour north of Chicago.
These protests were happening
after Kenosha police shot a Black man,
and Rittenhouse showed up on the second night of protests.
He was armed, and that night,
he shot three people and killed two of them.
Now he's on trial, facing,
among other charges, intentional homicide.
- There will be no dispute in this record
that the defendant had that gun that night, shot eight bullets.
Four of them hit Joseph Rosenbaum,
two of them at an unknown individual,
one into Anthony Huber's chest,
and one into Gaige Grosskreutz's arm.
That will not be in dispute.
- This whole case revolves around self-defense,
and the way self-defense works in Wisconsin is,
if the defendant can produce enough evidence to have a court
say there's evidence of self-defense,
then the burden of proving no self-defense goes to the state.
- The end of that gun was pointed directly at his chest
when you pulled the trigger.
Correct? - Yes.
- And you knew that, correct? - Yes.
- And you still pulled the trigger, didn't you?
- Yes.
- Because you intended to kill Anthony Hubert
at that moment, didn't you?
- No.
- What did you think was going to happen, then?
You've got a gun that's aimed directly at his chest.
You pull the trigger.
What did you think was going to happen?
- The judge, I've known for a long time,
and he's pretty conservative and straightforward,
and it was obvious early on,
he wanted to maintain strict control over the trial.
- This was the subject of a motion.
- I'm well aware of that.
- And the court left the door open.
- For me, not for you!
- The prosecutor had to go after him,
which is what he tried to do.
Kyle Rittenhouse was one of the most rehearsed witnesses
I've ever seen.
He did not move an inch from his testimony about,
"I didn't intend to kill him.
I was just protecting.
I was just trying to stop the attack on me."
And he just repeated it over and over and over again.
Very controlled, and it was hard for the prosecutor
to get anywhere with him, because he was so well-prepared.
And, you know, he came off very likable and articulate.
- You are telling this jury that it was, in your mind,
justified to use deadly force to protect your own life, correct?
- Yes.
- You'd agree with me that you were not allowed
to use deadly force
to protect that Car Source building, correct?
- Well, I wasn't using deadly force to protect the property.
I used deadly force to protect myself, so --
-Please listen to my question
and answer my question, if you can.
You'd agree with me
that you were not allowed to use deadly force
to protect that Car Source building, correct?
- Yes.
- Rittenhouse has really emerged as this polarizing figure.
To those who object to his presence and his actions,
they see him as somebody who had no business going out there,
someone who was almost terrorizing.
He's been called a domestic terrorist by his critics.
Those who support him really see him as justified in his actions.
You know, he was bringing a sense of order
and wanting to help a community.
Even though it wasn't his own community, he wanted to help.
- I think that closing arguments are going to be
the most important part of the trial --
how these two lawyers try to string this together
on the self-defense part.
I wouldn't be surprised if we wound up with a hung jury,
with a jury that can't decide,
because there are arguments on both sides,
and it's such a tough case.