Kyle Rittenhouse trial for the BLM protest murders begins Monday | Crime News

“Politics are going to go deep into this matter,” a law professor said of Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the American teenager accused of kill two men and injuring a third with a military-style rifle during protests against racism and police brutality in Wisconsin last year, will begin with jury selection.

Prosecution and defense lawyers will begin investigating potential jurors on Monday for their political leanings and perceived biases in a case that has garnered widespread attention. Lawyers should ask potential jurors for their views on issues such as police and gun rights, upon which the trial should be based.

Rittenhouse was 17 when he made the short trip north from his home in Illinois, just across the border from Wisconsin, to Kenosha, during protests that erupted in August 2020 after a white policeman shot Jacob Blake, a black man. Rittenhouse, now 18, faces life imprisonment if convicted of first degree homicide during the Black Lives Matter events.

Rittenhouse faces seven charges, including homicide in the fatal shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and attempted homicide for injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, 27. He is also charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under the age of 18. He pleaded not guilty of all counts.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Rittenhouse, who said he was in Kenosha to help protect a business, was looking for violent conflict and reacted with disproportionate force.

The defense will stress that Rittenhouse feared for his life with every encounter.

Kyle Rittenhouse, in his home state of Illinois, on August 26, 2020, is charged with killing two protesters days after Jacob Blake, a black resident of Wisconsin, was shot and seriously injured by police [File: Antioch Police Department via AP]

Judge Bruce Schroeder, who has experience presiding over high-profile trials, told lawyers he believes the selection of 20 jury members from 150 potential jurors can be accomplished in one day. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

“As much as the judge doesn’t want this to be a political trial, politics is going to be deeply entrenched in this case,” said Keith Findley, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law at the University of Wisconsin. Reuters news agency.

Judge Schroeder said each party will be allowed to strike seven people to reach a total of 20 jurors. The judge did not specify how many of them would be substitutes.

The case was polarized, with Rittenhouse portrayed by his supporters as a patriot exercising constitutionally protected self-defense and gun rights. Others see him as a vigilante and would-be police officer who should never have been armed in Kenosha in the first place.

Rittenhouse is white, just like those he shot dead, but many view his trial as the last referendum on race and the American legal system.

Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum down with an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle after Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse through a parking lot and threw a plastic bag at him shortly before midnight on August 25, 2020. Moments later, as Rittenhouse ran in a street, he shot and killed Huber, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin, and shot and wounded Grosskreutz, a protester from West Allis, Wisconsin.

A viewer video captured Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse but not the shoot itself. The video showed Huber swinging a skateboard in Rittenhouse before he was shot. Grosskreutz had a gun in his hand as he walked towards Rittenhouse and was shot.

The prosecution, led by Kenosha County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Binger, is likely to attempt to select left-wing jurors inclined to view protests over police and racial justice favorably and disapprove of armed citizens descending into the city. street, legal experts said.

The defense, led by attorney Mark Richards, is expected to focus on building a right-wing jury, with people who support the right to bear arms, support law enforcement and have likely voted for it. former US President Donald Trump.

“The scripts are reversed on this one,” Michael F Hart, criminal defense attorney in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, told Reuters, noting that the prosecution would normally be the party trying to secure jurors who consider the law and the order as important.

“This is what makes this case unique and interesting to watch.”