Reactions to the Rittenhouse verdict
Kyle Rittenhouse sits with his attorneys after a lunch break and waits for proceedings to start at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges of killing two people and wounding a third during a protest over police brutality in Kenosha, last year. Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool
On November 19, 2021, a jury of seven women and five men in Kenosha, Wisconsin found 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse (of Antioch, Illinois) not guilty of all charges after shooting and killing two people and maiming another in during unrest after the police shooting of Jacob Blake on August 25, 2020. Public opinions about the highly publicized case and verdict were polarized, with many right-wing politicians lauding Rittenhouse’s acquittal—calling it a victory for self-defense laws and the 2nd Amendment—and some on the other side finding the verdict to be unjust and symbolic of racial double standards in the American justice system. Two reporters and a criminal defense attorney joined The 21st to talk about the verdict and the range of reactions.
GUESTS:
Deneen Smith
Reporter for Kenosha News
April Preyar
Criminal defense attorney based in Chicago, Illinois
Mark Brown
Columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times
"The predicament of the Rittenhouse trial is that it could never do what many Americans, especially on the left, wanted. It couldn’t produce a plain answer as to whether Rittenhouse was a hero or a villain," @GrahamDavidA writes. https://t.co/3ObAQJ9dGN
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) November 19, 2021
Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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