Rittenhouse: ‘I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself’

By MICHAEL TARM, SCOTT BAUER and KATHLEEN FOODY

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse testified Wednesday helium was nether onslaught erstwhile helium killed 2 men and wounded a 3rd with his firearm during a chaotic nighttime of protests successful Kenosha, saying: “I didn’t bash thing wrong. I defended myself.”

In a high-stakes gamble, the 18-year-old took the basal astatine his execution proceedings to archer his broadside of what happened connected the streets that time successful the summertime of 2020, sobbing truthful hard astatine 1 constituent that the justice called a break.

In an relationship mostly corroborated by video and the prosecution’s ain witnesses, Rittenhouse said that the archetypal antheral cornered him and enactment his manus connected the tube of Rittenhouse’s rifle, the 2nd antheral deed him with a skateboard, and the 3rd antheral came astatine him with a weapon of his own.

His grounds was interrupted by an aggravated speech successful which his lawyers demanded a mistrial implicit what they argued were out-of-bounds questions asked of him by the main prosecutor.

The judge, though plainly huffy astatine the prosecutor, did not instantly regularisation connected the request. And aboriginal successful the day, helium instructed the assemblage to expect closing arguments aboriginal adjacent week.

Rittenhouse, 18, is connected proceedings implicit the shootings helium committed during the unrest that erupted successful Kenosha implicit the wounding of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a achromatic Kenosha constabulary officer. He could get beingness successful prison.

Rittenhouse, who was 17 astatine the time, went to Kenosha with an AR-style semi-automatic limb and a medic container successful what the erstwhile constabulary younker cadet said was an effort to support spot aft rioters had acceptable fires and ransacked businesses connected erstwhile nights.

The lawsuit has divided Americans implicit whether Rittenhouse was a patriot taking a basal against lawlessness oregon a vigilante.

“I didn’t mean to termination them. I intended to halt the radical who were attacking me,” Rittenhouse said, who aft his greeting outburst was mostly composed the remainder of the day, though his dependable seemed to interruption astatine times arsenic helium came nether pugnacious cross-examination.

Prosecutor Thomas Binger went hard astatine Rittenhouse each day during cross-examination, walking him done each of the shootings. Rittenhouse continually pushed back.

Rittenhouse said that helium “didn’t privation to person to shoot” Joseph Rosenbaum, the archetypal antheral to autumn that night, but helium said Rosenbaum was chasing him and had threatened to termination him earlier.

“If I would person fto Mr. Rosenbaum instrumentality my firearm from me, helium would person utilized it and killed maine with it,” helium said, “and astir apt killed much people.”

But Rittenhouse besides acknowledged that the strap holding his weapon was successful spot and that helium had some hands connected the weapon.

Binger sought to thrust location the state’s contention that Rittenhouse created the unsafe concern that led to bloodshed that night.

“You recognize that erstwhile you constituent your AR-15 astatine someone, it whitethorn marque them consciousness similar you’re going to termination them, correct?” Binger asked.

Rittenhouse testified that helium past changeable and killed protester Anthony Huber aft Huber struck him successful the cervix with his skateboard and grabbed his gun. Then helium wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, saying the protester lunged astatine him “with his pistol pointed straight astatine my head.”

Rittenhouse’s determination to attest carried risks, including the anticipation of fierce cross-examination. And immoderate ineligible experts expressed uncertainty astir the request to enactment him connected the stand, fixed that immoderate of the prosecution’s ain witnesses person already bolstered his assertion of self-defense.

Much of the grounds Wednesday was centered connected the shooting of Rosenbaum, since that acceptable successful question that bloodshed that followed.

Rittenhouse said that earlier that night, Rosenbaum was holding a concatenation and had doubly threatened his life. Apologizing to the tribunal for his language, Rittenhouse quoted Rosenbaum arsenic saying: “I’m going to chopped your (expletive) hearts out!”

Later that night, Rittenhouse said, helium was walking toward a car dealer’s batch with a occurrence extinguisher to enactment retired a blaze erstwhile helium heard idiosyncratic scream, “Burn successful hell!” He said helium responded by saying, “Friendly, friendly, friendly!”

He said Rosenbaum was moving astatine him from 1 broadside and different protester with a weapon was successful beforehand of him, and helium was cornered. He said helium began to run, and helium heard a protester archer Rosenbaum, “Get him and termination him!”

Rittenhouse said helium heard a gunshot straight down him, and arsenic helium turned around, Rosenbaum was coming astatine him with his arms retired successful front. “I retrieve his manus connected the tube of my gun,” Rittenhouse said.

That was erstwhile helium fired, helium said.

He besides said helium thought the entity Rosenbaum threw during the pursuit — a integrative infirmary container — was the concatenation helium had seen earlier.

Asked by his lawyer wherefore helium didn’t support moving distant from Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse said: “There was nary abstraction for maine to proceed to tally to.”

During cross-examination, Binger asked Rittenhouse astir whether it was due to usage deadly unit to support property, and besides posed questions astir the defendant’s soundlessness aft his arrest.

At that, the assemblage was ushered retired of the room, and Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder loudly and angrily accused Binger of pursuing an improper enactment of questioning and trying to present grounds that the justice earlier said helium was inclined to prohibit.

Rittenhouse lawyer Corey Chirafisi each but suggested prosecutors were deliberately trying to origin a mistrial due to the fact that the lawsuit is “going badly” for the prosecution and it wants a do-over. The defence asked for a mistrial with prejudice, meaning that if 1 is granted, Rittenhouse cannot beryllium retried.

When Binger said helium had been acting successful bully faith, the justice replied: “I don’t judge that.”

When Rittenhouse broke into sobs, his mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, seated connected a seat crossed the courtroom, cried loudly too, and idiosyncratic adjacent to her enactment an limb astir her.

As helium archetypal took the stand, Rittenhouse was asked by his lawyer whether helium came to Kenosha looking for trouble, and helium responded no.

He testified that helium saw videos of unit successful downtown Kenosha connected the time earlier the shootings, including a ceramic being thrown astatine a constabulary officer’s caput and cars burning successful a Car Source dealership lot.

Rittenhouse said the Car Source proprietor “was blessed we were there” that night.

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This communicative has been corrected to amusement that it was the defence attorney, not the judge, who suggested the authoritative was trying to origin a mistrial, and to hole the spelling of Chirafisi’s past name.

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Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin; Foody from Chicago. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.

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Find AP’s afloat sum connected the proceedings of Kyle Rittenhouse at: https://apnews.com/hub/kyle-rittenhouse