Kyle Rittenhouse Trial Delayed After Both Sides Ask for More Time to Prepare
The trial for an 18-year-old accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a riot in Wisconsin was pushed back Wednesday by seven months and could be delayed even longer.
Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial was scheduled to begin March 29, but both sides told a judge they needed more time to prepare.
Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder set a Nov. 1 trial start date, with a May 17 status hearing.
Rittenhouse faces multiple felony counts, including reckless homicide and reckless endangerment. He also faces a misdemeanor count of being a minor in possession of a firearm.
Rittenhouse appeared with his attorney during a virtual court hearing. He only spoke when the judge asked him if he had any problem with the delay, saying, “No, your honor.”
The judge suggested the trial could be pushed back even further, saying the November date was “not written in stone.”
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger said both sides needed more time, citing a “number of outstanding issues,” including DNA testing.
Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, agreed to the fall start date.
“We’re interested in moving this matter forward but whatever the court decides, we’ll abide by,” he said.
According to prosecutors, Rittenhouse traveled to Kenosha from his home in Antioch, Illinois, on Aug. 25 to help protect businesses from rioters.
Kenosha was in the throes of several nights of unrest after a police officer shot Jacob Blake during a domestic disturbance. The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, shot Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz with a rifle. Rosenbaum and Huber were killed. Grosskreutz was wounded but survived.
Grosskreutz and his attorney also attended the hearing but did not speak.
Rittenhouse has argued that he fired in self-defense after the three men attacked him.
Immediately after the shootings, Rittenhouse can be seen in video footage appearing to give himself up to police officers with his hands in the air. He was arrested the day after the incident.
Richards told Schroeder last month that Rittenhouse has received threats and has moved into a undisclosed safe house.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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