Attorney for Accused Kenosha Protest Gunman Says Teen Acted in Self-Defense
A high-profile lawyer representing the 17-year-old boy charged with killing two protesters and wounding another during demonstrations on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, said on Friday that his client had acted in…
A high-profile lawyer representing the 17-year-old boy charged with killing two protesters and wounding another during demonstrations on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, said on Friday that his client had acted in self-defense.
Atlanta-based attorney Lin Wood said video footage of the altercation would vindicate Kyle Rittenhouse despite what he described as misinformation being spread by the media.
“Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. Murder charges are factually unsupportable. An egregious miscarriage of justice is occurring with respect to this 17-year old boy,” Wood said on Twitter.
Rittenhouse, who prosecutors say traveled 30 miles (50 km) to Kenosha from his home in Antioch, Illinois, before the shooting at about 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday, is charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree homicide and attempted homicide.
Prosecutors accuse Rittenhouse of firing an assault-style rifle at three protesters who tried to subdue him, killing 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, 26.
The criminal complaint cites as evidence several videos recorded by witnesses, including one in which Rittenhouse is seen calling a friend from the scene and telling them: “I just killed somebody.”
An Illinois judge on Friday postponed his extradition to Wisconsin while the teenaged defendant arranged a private legal team. Rittenhouse, a former YMCA lifeguard who is being held without bond, did not appear at the livestreamed hearing.
SUMMER OF PROTESTS
The shooting of Jacob Blake, 29, in front of three of his children has turned Kenosha, a predominantly white city of about 100,000 people on Lake Michigan, into the latest flashpoint in ongoing nationwide protests over police brutality and racism.
It also galvanized demonstrators who gathered in Washington on Friday to commemorate the 1963 march where Martin Luther King Jr made his historic “I Have a Dream” speech.