A 17 year old boy, Kyle Rittenhouse, from Illinois, crosses state lines and arms himself with an AR-15 semiautomatic weapon. When he arrives in Kenosha, Wisconsin last summer during anti-racism protests over police violence against black people, he shoots and kills two men and injures another.
After the shooting, Rittenhouse was apprehended and arrested by police. He was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two first-degree recklessly endangering safety counts. He pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense.
In a trial that has become a flashpoint in the debate over guns, vigilantism, and racial injustice in the U.S., the predominantly white jury acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges.
How can it be that a white kid who goes out of his way to go to an anti-racist protest armed with an assault rifle and kills two people and injures a third be found not guilty? Why else would he take an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to that protest if not to shoot people?
Can you imagine what the verdict would have been if Kyle Rittenhouse had been a 17-year old black kid?
The American justice system is badly broken.
This, That, and the Other 
The message that I get is that it is OK to kill people as long as you cry on the stand.
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Especially if the killer is white.
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I heard this on the radio this morning and thought just the same thing. How is a 17 year old kid even allowed to have a weapon like that. He went there to hurt people and he did. Guilty.
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Exactly!
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I’ve just read this online, and hadnt really taken it in until I read your post. It does seem very farcical and very racist indeed. A black person would almost certainly have been found guilty. That’s the USA for you. He actually walked round the streets with a rifle during the riots! Who does that unless they are in the army. Makes no sense.
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Who does that? Right-wing militia and white supremacist groups, and this verdict has empowered them to do more of it. 😡
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This is clearly some sort of abortion of justice (a miscarriage is not intentional). I understand that he is 17, however, there should be consequences for him, and also for the adults who created and abetted him. The police for asking for vigilantes and the Rittenhouse parents bear a significant responsibility. I certainly hope that his parents are sued for everything they are worth. There is no way in…well no way what-so-ever that I would have allowed my son to behave that way. Certainly would not have given him a ride.
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It is definitely a miscarriage of justice.
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I prefer Xingfumama’s term, ‘abortion of justice’. And for the same reason.
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It doesn’t seem possible that someone could claim self-defence in such circumstances, does it?
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No, it doesn’t. Because it wasn’t.
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That was the defence the guy used.
I doubt he’ll like long. Someone will have him.
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Sorry, important typo. live not like. As in, remain alive. I’m sure that someone, having seen the law in action, will take matters into their own hands.
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A thoroughly disgusting verdict. He should have been charged and CONVICTED of first degree, premeditated murder.
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I couldn’t agree more.
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For an alternate perspective, I would highly recommend watching the trial. A month ago, I thought KR was guilty, 100%. However, I’ve watched the entire trial (80+ hours) over the last two weeks because I saw clips that conflicted my original belief. I now believe it’s a clear-cut case of self-defense. The prosecution brought multiple witnesses to the stand, nearly all of whom corroborated the self-defense argument, including the man who was shot and survived (he stated under oath that he had pointed his gun at KR first).
For anyone upset at the outcome, please consider watching the trial and forming your own opinions on the outcome. All your questions will be answered in the testimony. I’m personally livid at the mainstream media for misleading the country so egregiously on this story.
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If he hadn’t brought an AR-15 with him, none of this would have happened. Why did he bring a weapon in the first place unless he planned on having to shoot to “defend” himself? He was asking for trouble.
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Why did he have the AR to begin with? In a system which works properly he shouldn’t have even been able to possess one. Until access is denied this sort of thing will continue. After a massacre here many years ago the government came down hard and banned them. A 12 month amnesty brought in tens of thousands of guns. We have not had any massacres since. USA needs to do something. Or is the NRA a sticking block?…..I’m only an observer
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The NRA and the far right and the conservatives who believes the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a mandate for every patriotic American to have guns.
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Crazy. I’m glad I don’t live there…..
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I don’t disagree with you at all.
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He shouldn’t have been there in the first place. End of.
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I can see your point. Technically the verdict was correct but the laws that allow citizens to run around with guns are wrong and that’s what upsets people like me, I guess. The boy should never have been able to buy or use a weapon like that. The people he was defending himself from should not have been carrying weapons or using them in a threatening way either. As long as people are allowed to buy semi-automatic weapons and encouraged to believe that it’s OK to carry them these things will always happen.
I’m from Australia and although I have known people who own guns for hunting or target shooting, I don’t know anyone who would carry one on their person or keep one beside the bed in case of burglars. I’m not saying that nobody does that, but we don’t have anything like the number of shootings you have in the USA proportionate to the population.
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A very disturbing verdict. The justice system is not broken, it’s dead.
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Oh my god. I can’t believe this! The judge is mostly to blame and as a mother of three teenagers and grandmother to more I cannot imagine this. His baby crying fit on the stand would not fool me. I am outraged.
Sent from my iPhone
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I am outraged, too, Cheryl.
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Well said. I’m not from the US so just watching.
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Can you imagine what the verdict would have been if Kyle Rittenhouse had been a 17-year old black kid?
There’d be no verdict for a 17 year old black kid, he’d be dead. RIP Tamir Rice.
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You’re probably right.
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Just my 2 cents is that twelve ordinary citizens heard the case and called a verdict and we must respect that. As for the gun, not in favor of any of them carrying weapons.
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Unfortunately, the judge was biased against the prosecution and the jury was mostly white, conservative Republicans.
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You may be right but I’m going to keep the faith that twelve folks can set politics and race aside and focus only the facts before them to make a decision.
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I’ve lost faith that people can do that anymore.
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A seventeen-year-old black kid wouldn’t have reached the point of being on trial for something like that. He would’ve been shot for walking down the street with a gun.
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This is so true! It is very broken! I don’t think he should’ve gotten acquitted!
He went there with intent to harm people!
He should do time! Xx
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Exactly!
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Broken justice system is the understatement of the year. That verdict is still so WRONG!
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