Kyle Rittenhouse takes the stand in his own defense: LIVE UPDATES
Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, took the stand on Wednesday in his ongoing trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ host reacts to the ‘intentional perversion of justice’ from the prosecution.
Fox News contributor Ted Williams said Wednesday on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" that the prosecutor in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial "may have made a fatal error" that could "lead to a mistrial or dismissal of this case with prejudice."
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger "may have made a fatal error when he asked him, 'Why didn't he speak up earlier?'," he explained. "Kyle Rittenhouse had Fifth Amendment rights: the right to remain silent. He did not have to speak up earlier, and that, I believe, was very prejudicial. I think it very well could in the near future here lead to a mistrial or dismissal of this case with prejudice."
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Wisconsin prosecutors could be barred from re-trying Kyle Rittenhouse if a defense motion for a mistrial is granted and the court rules that prosecutors intentionally caused the mistrial, according to legal experts.
Lawyers for Rittenhouse asked for a mistrial Wednesday over the line of questioning directed at their client, which prompted Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to angrily lash out at the chief prosecutor. He did not rule on the motion.
Kyle Rittenhouse testified Wednesday during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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Attorney Robert Bianchi breaks down the self-defense law at play in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial on 'The Story.'
The Wisconsin judge overseeing the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse tore into a prosecutor Wednesday during a testy exchange over his cross-examination of the teenager and questions over his silence after his arrest and his protection of private property.
Judge Bruce Schroeder scolded Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger after he asked Rittenhouse whether he knew the use of deadly force can not be used to protect property. Schroeder accused Binger of trying to improperly introduce testimony that he said earlier he wasn't inclined to include.
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During opening statements earlier this month, Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense attorney indicated his client would be testifying about the events that led to his murder trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin, court. Rittenhouse did just that on Wednesday morning.
Witnesses have taken the stand and provided testimony that has been beneficial to Rittenhouse’s self-defense argument, raising the question of whether Rittenhouse’s own testimony was needed.
Read more here.
Leo Terrell, a Fox News contributor and civil rights attorney, weighed in moments after Kyle Rittenhouse’s emotional testimony during his trial for killing two individuals and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.
Rittenhouse, who faces up to life in prison if convicted of the highest charge, broke down in tears on the witness stand while describing the moments before he encountered Joseph Rosenbaum and, ultimately, killed him.
Terrell said Rittenhouse "did an outstanding job" of explaining to the jury what his intentions were in attending the protest.
Read more here.
The prosecution and defense have finished questioning Rittenhouse, completing his time on the stand after about seven hours.
The defense says they have three more witnesses to call. Trial adjourns for the day, with the expectation that it will resume at 9 a.m. CT / 10 a.m. ET Thursday.
Judge Schroeder indicates the trial will likely go until Monday or Tuesday, at which time the jury will deliberate.
"After you kill Anthony Huber, shoot Gaige Grosskreutz and attempt to fire those two shots at the person who jumped at you, you got up and you walked away, didn't you?" Binger asks Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse concedes.
Binger confirms with Rittenhouse that Rittenhouse did still have his medic bag with him after shooting the three people.
"You never once offered to help anybody that you just shot, correct?" Binger asks.
Rittenhouse responds, "I don't."
Speaking about Gaige Grosskreutz, who survived being shot by Rittenhouse, describes how Grosskreutz was yelling, "I need a medic."
Binger: "You don't do anything to help him, do you?"
Rittenhouse: "No."
Binger: "You just decide to get out of there as fast as you can, correct?"
Rittenhouse: "Yes."
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger tried to poke holes on Wednesday in Kyle Rittenhouse's argument that he was defending himself on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, when he fatally shot two people and wounded a third.
Being questioned over his decision to shoot Joseph Rosenbaum, who Rittenhouse has said was advancing on him before he fired his AR-15, Rittenhouse tells Binger he continued "to fire until he was no longer a threat."
Binger: "When he's falling to the ground in front of you he's no longer a threat to you. His pelvis is broken, right?"
Rittenhouse: "I don't know ... I saw him lunging towards my gun and he, I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun."
Binger: "What was the risk to you of death or great bodily harm at the moment you killed Joseph Rosenbaum?"
Rittenhouse responds: "If I would have let Mr. Rosenbaum take my firearm from, he would have used it, killed me with it and probably killed more people if I would have let him get my gun."
Rittenhouse appears to get emotional at times.
Binger: "Mr. Rosenbaum never said anything to you about taking your gun, did he?"
Rittenhouse says Rosenbaum did not say anything, "but he tried to take my gun."
"And whoever's got that gun is a threat to everyone else?" Binger asks.
Binger says he wants to "break that down."
"First of all," Binger says, "you had already prevented him from taking your gun by running away and doing that little dip and dodge ... right?"
Rittenhouse says Rosenbaum "was still coming after my gun."
When asked if he could have kept running, Rittenhouse says he could not have.
Binger: "You have the gun strapped to your body at this point, correct? ... The strap is designed to keep that on your body, so it doesn't come off, correct? ... And you have both hands on the gun, correct? ... "Mr. Rosenbaum has never said anything at all about wanting your gun -- you never heard him say anything about that, correct?"
Rittenhouse concedes to all of the points made by Binger. He says he did not know what Rosenbaum was thinking when he tried to grab Rittenhouse's gun.
Binger: "Did you want him to think that you were going to shoot him?"
Rittenhouse: "No, I never wanted to shoot Mr. Rosenbaum ... He was chasing me. I was alone. He threatened to kill me earlier that night. I didn't want to have to shoot him."
Binger then asks if Rittenhouse understands "how dangerous it is to point a gun at someone."
He adds: "You understand how dangerous it is when a gun at someone, correct? ... You understand that that puts someone else in fear that they're about to be killed. Right? ... You understand that when you point your AR-15 at someone else that may make them feel like they are about to be killed by you?"
"Why did you point it at him if you didn't have any intention of shooting?
Rittenhouse responds: "Mr. Rosenbaum was chasing me. He said he was going to kill me if he got me alone, I was alone. I was running from him. I pointed it at him and it didn't stop him from continuing to chase me."
Rittenhouse, growing upset, adds: "He could have ran away instead of trying to take my gun from me. But he kept chasing me. It didn't stop him."
Binger: "Mr. Rittenhouse, you're telling us that you felt like you were about to die, right? But when you point the gun at someone else, that's going to make them feel like they're about to die, right? That's what you wanted him to feel."
"No," Rittenhouse shouts.
"You wanted him to get the message from you that, if you come any closer, I'm going to kill you. That's why you pointed the gun at him, right?"
After some back-and-forth, Rittenhouse says, "I didn't want to have to kill Mr. Rosenbaum."
Binger continues a similar line of questioning related to the two other men whom Rittenhouse shot that night.
“In this entire sequence of events, no one ever fired a gun at you, did they?“ Binger then asks.
Rittenhouse: "Mr. Ziminski fired a gun from behind me."
Binger questions how much of the knowledge of Ziminski’s gunfire played a role in Rittenhouse’s self-defense efforts, noting that Rittenhouse did not know where the gunfire came from – but knew it was not Rosenbaum – at that time.
Binger: “When you heard that gunshot, you didn’t know whether it was fired at you, up in the air … or at anyone else, did you?”
Binger later adds: “In this entire sequence of events, no one ever fired a shot at you, did they?”
Rittenhouse responds: “No.”
Showing video to the jury and Rittenhouse, who has returned to the stand, ADA Binger asks: "Mr. Rittenhouse, can you see in that video that you raised your weapon and pointed it at someone?"
"It doesn't look like I raised my rifle," Rittenhouse says, adding that it looks like his shoulder is up but his rifle is pointed down.
Binger asks, "So your testimony today under oath is that you have no memory" of arriving to that location and raising his rifle?
Binger continues to show more video. Again, Binger asks: "Joseph Rosenbaum never touched you in any way" during that incident?
Rittenhouse, after repeated questioning, says no. He notes that Rosenbaum did touch Rittenhouse's gun.
After showing more footage, Binger asks Rittenhouse to tell him if he sees Rosembaum "jump up in the air with his hands up."
After seeing Rosenbaum on video lifting his hands in the air, Binger asks if that was Rosenbaum's response to Rittenhouse pointing his gun.
Binger: "That was a reaction to you pointing a gun at him, correct?"
Rittenhouse: "Yes, but he kept running at me."
Binger then questions whether or not Rittenhouse slowed down before he turned around toward Rosenbaum. "It looks like you slowed down before you even turned around," Binger says.
"Yes," Rittenhouse says.
"You characterized Mr. Rosenbaum as advancing on you, speeding up toward you, but you actually slowed down, didn't you?" Binger asked.
Rittenhouse: "Because of the people around the cars, yes."
Binger is asking Rittenhouse about Joshua Ziminski. Binger asks Rittenhouse about his claims that Ziminski had a gun in his hand, and how he saw Joseph Rosenbaum approaching him from behind.
"Have you told us everything that you did when that situation just happened at the DuraMax?" Binger asks. Rittenhouse says he did.
Binger was prepared to use a video related to the events, but defense attorney Mark Richards objects, arguing that Binger was using an iPhone and the footage would be distorted because of Apple technology.
The judge excuses the jury.
After the jury has left, Richards says: "Your honor, I don't know what the state's going to do next, but I suspect it's something along the lines of they're going to use the iPad, and Mr. Binger was talking about pinching the screen. IPads, which are made by Apple, have artificial intelligence in them that allow things to be viewed through three dimensions and logarithms ... And it uses artificial intelligence for their logarithms to create what they believe is happening. So, this isn't actually enhanced video, this is Apple's iPad programing creating what it thinks is there, not what necessarily is there."
Meanwhile, Binger argues that every person these days has a smart phone, "whether it's an Apple iPhone or some other device. And I think we've all taken a photograph or a video at one point or another and used the the pinch to zoom in feature. This is a common part of everyone's everyday life."
He later adds: Speaker 3: "I don't frankly understand or agree with anything [the defense] counsel just said. I've used my phone. I think probably you have to. I think this is something within everyone's common knowledge to pinch and zoom on a screen. And that's what's going on here. It does not change the image in any way."
Binger said he did not want to finish cross-examining Rittenhouse without showing him and questioning him on the video.
Prosecutor Binger is asking Rittenhouse about his decision to take his loaded AR-15 down to a different Car Source location instead of leaving it behind with one of the people he was with at the time.
"You still knew you had it strapped along your body and you made a conscious decision to bring it along?" Binger asks.
When asked if he brought it along simply because it was already strapped to him, Rittenhouse responds: "There was people around that could have stolen my gun."
He pauses, and says "I didn't take my rifle off because I was going there, I was going to be running there alone. I didn't take it off because" there would be no one else "there to protect me."
Binger: "What were you expecting you would need protection from?"
Rittenhouse: "I didn't really think I was going to have to protect myself"
Binger asks: "You brought it along for protection, but you didn't think you needed protection?"
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger is questioning Rittenhouse over his belief that there was the need for the firearm on the night of Aug. 25, 2020.
Binger says Rittenhouse testified that he did not think the crowd was hostile.Rittenhouse responds: "I didn’t say I didn’t think they were hostile."
Binger is questioning why the defendant needed a gun if he was going there that night to help people.
Binger asks, “Why did you need the gun?”
Rittenhouse: “I needed the gun because if I had to protect myself in case somebody attacked me.”
Binger asserts that Rittenhouse “clearly planned on” being attacked ... ”So, you thought you were going to be in danger, right?”
Rittenhouse says he did not think he was going to be in the position where “I would have to protect myself.”
Binger asks Rittenhouse about his decision to announce himself as friendly and asks if it was because Rittenhouse saw them as being hostile.
"We say 'friendly' to people that aren't our friends -- people that might be hostile to us," Binger says.
Rittenhouse says people were throwing rocks at him until he said he was "Friendly," and Binger clarifies that they were throwing rocks at something else, but he was "kind of in the ricochet line of fire."
Binger: "And you felt it was necessary to tell the, 'Friendly! Friendly! Friendly!" so that they wouldn't do anything to you," correct?
During this back-and-forth, Rittenhouse tells Binger: "Someone did try to hurt me while I was helping people."
Binger continues to hone in on this question of whether or not Rittenhouse viewed the crowd as hostile.
"You also felt you needed a backup – an armed former army infantryman to protect you, fair?” Binger asks, referring to Ryan Balch, who was with Rittenhouse that night and who testified earlier in the trial. “Yet, when he’s gone, you can’t find him, you don’t immediately go back, right?”
Again, Binger asks Rittenhouse why he was shouting "Friendly!", and asks Rittenhouse if it was correct that he "knew this was a crowd that would not see you as friendly."
During cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger lightly scolds Rittenhouse for looking at his attorney too much.
Mark Richards, the defense attorney, argues that he is sitting behind Binger and therefore his client could be looking at Binger, not at him.
Binger: “I need you to look at me. You keep looking at your attorney.”
Richards: "What do u want him to look at, the ceiling?”
The cross-examination continued shortly thereafter.
Binger asks Rittenhouse about his decision to protect a community where he didn't personally reside. He further asked Rittenhouse about his decision to leave the property that he says he was asked to protect.
"Normally, we would, if there is a fire, if there is somebody committing a crime, you call 911 right?"
Rittenhouse: "I saw from the nights prior that the fire department wasn't responding to put out fires." He adds he did not feel that police or the fire department would show up if called.
Binger: "You came to Kenosha that night armed with [an] AR-15 and no other ways to defend yourself," right?
Rittenhouse agrees.
Binger asks Rittenhouse about his answer to his attorney that there was "no friction" between protesters on Aug. 25, 2020.
Binger: "It seemed to you as though the crowd ... and you, things were fine. No tension, no friction, no nothing, fair to say?"
Rittenhouse says yes, other than Rosenbaum. Binger shows Rittenhouse a video from that night and continues questioning Rittenhouse about this belief.
"You knew that this was a crowd that would not react very favorably," Binger asks Rittenhouse, regarding his decision to be out there that night.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger is questioning Rittenhouse over his previous testimony regarding Joseph Rosenbaum, including what Rosenbaum was wearing and when he was holding the chain.
Binger asks Rittenhouse how far he was from Rosenbaum at the time of the second threat.
Rittenhouse first says he believes about 10-15 feet before adding that he is not sure.
Asked if Rittenhouse is aware of any video showing these threats from Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse responds: "I'm not."
Binger; "That entire evening, he never touched your body, correct?"
"He grabbed my gun but never physically touched me."
When asked if Rosenbaum ever did anything "physically" aggressive toward Rittenhouse, Rittenhouse agrees.
"Other than the chain," did Rittenhouse see Rosenbaum with any other type of weapon over the course that night, Binger asks.
Rittenhouse says he did not.
Rittenhouse said Rosenbaum's threats were about an hour apart.
Rittenhouse: "I took a mental picture of his face when he said those threats. I recognized that he said that when he was chasing me ... I was thinking this was the guy that said if he catches me alone he'll kill me as I was running away from him."
Binger questions how Rittenhouse was certain it was "the same guy."
The defense team representing Kyle Rittenhouse makes a motion for a mistrial with prejudice, citing a prosecutor's line of questioning with the defendant, who took the stand earlier on Wednesday.
According to Fox News' Jiovanni Lieggi, who was inside the courtroom at the time, "The defense is arguing the prosecution was out of line and his conduct was extreme." Lieggi added that the state would not be allowed to re-file charges against Rittenhouse if the motion for mistrial is granted.
Speaking to the judge, Binger says: "I do want to point out for the record, that the defendant has presented interviews to at least one media source and at least one online source since his arrest. And there have been questions about that night. There have been questions about why he did things like that. He has decided, probably on advice of counsel in certain circumstances, not to give a statement to the media about what happened. But he's talking about his family life. He's talking about his friends, he's talking about the circumstances of the case, he's talking about how this affected him and things like that. So my point and asking those questions was, 'You have agreed to talk to the media. You've agreed to talk about yourself. You read these interviews. But until now, this is the first time you're explaining your actions.'"
Circuit Court Judge Bruce E. Schroeder says he will take the motion under advisement after back-and-forth with the prosecutor in question, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger. Judge adds that he does not believe the Binger was acting in good faith.
The judge presiding over Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial scolded the prosecutor during a fiery exchange on Wednesday during cross-examination.
"Don’t get brazen with me," Judge Bruce Schroeder told prosecutor Thomas Binger in the courtroom.
The exchange came after Binger asked Rittenhouse a series of questions regarding whether he knows that deadly force can not be used to protect property.
The judge soon asked the jury to exit the courtroom.
Read more here.
New York-based criminal defense attorney Julie Rendelman, a former prosecutor, spoke to Fox News Digital by phone during the lunch break to react to Kyle Rittenhouse's testimony so far.
Rendelman, who has been following the trial but is not involved, said Rittenhouse "seems very prepared," but said "the big test is the cross-examination."
She added that so far, she does not think the prosecution is "doing an effective job."
"I think they are literally stepping all over the Constitution and I don't get it," she continued. "They've broken like three rules already."
During cross-examination before the lunch break, Circuit Court Judge Bruce E. Schroeder at times reprimanded the prosecution or raised his voice at them when the jury had left the room. At one point, defense attorney Mark Richards threatened to ask for a mistrial.
"Let me be clear, I don't support Kyle Rittenhouse. I don't support what he did. But when you're asking me questions about whether or not this individual will be found guilty based on the facts and based on the law, that's a whole other issue," Rendelman explained. "When you have a prosecutor asking questions that they darn well know they're not permitted to ask, then of course you're going to raise the judge's ire about it."
Rendelman explained what she saw as the three missteps by the prosecution:
"The first comment by the prosecutor was, 'This is the first time you're giving this, this version of events.'" Rendelman recalled. "A defendant has a right to remain silent. And so you cannot bring up or question the defendant in front of the jury about the fact that he chose not to speak in the past."
Rendelman continued: "Now, there's an argument to be made that he did speak in the past, and so that's what he's referring to. But, you must tread so lightly and carefully in regards to that. Especially because you can never have a jury believe that you are insinuating that the defendant was obligated to say something prior to getting on the stand."
The second misstep by the prosecution, Rendelman said, was that Binger "commented on the fact that the defendant tailored his testimony after listening to all the witnesses, which you can't comment on because a defendant has a right to be present during a trial."
"You can't raise that as a basis for saying that he's not credible, saying 'Oh, you sat through the trial' -- which of course he's sitting through the trial, he's the defendant -- and then say, 'Oh, that's the reason you're testifying the way you did.'"
The third problem Rendelman pointed to is when the prosecution asked Rittenhouse questions related to statements he had previously made regarding how he wanted to use the rifle.
"Prior to trial, the judge said that's not coming in," Rendelman explained, referring to the details regarding those statements. "And the only way it would come in is if they open the door,"
To "open the door" describes when the other side introduces a fact or anecdote on their own.
"Well, a prosecutor and a defense attorney can't ask questions if they believe the other side opened the door without getting permission from the judge first. And everyone knows that."
When asked what she would do as the prosecutor handling this case, Rendelman said she would do "everything" in her power "to stay away from angering the judge."
"If the jury respects the judge and the judge is not liking the behavior of the prosecutor, that will impact the jury's decision," she explained. "That's the first thing I care about, is toeing the line with my behavior."
The second thing, she said, is to "try to corroborate those points in time that can support a. the charges and ... b. contradicts self-defense. For example, if he made a prior statement and that statement was inconsistent with something he's saying, then obviously that's a road I'm going to go down."
Circuit Court Judge Bruce E. Schroeder calls for a lunchbreak in the ongoing murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, 18.
Rittenhouse is expected to return to the stand, under cross-examination from prosecution, at 1 p.m. CT / 2 p.m. ET.
Prosecutor Binger asks Rittenhouse: "Did you know the capabilities of your own weapon?
Rittenhouse responds: "I knew that it could shoot ... I believe from a distance ... I'm not an expert on AR-15s."
Binger questions Rittenhouse repeatedly over his knowledge of ammunition and asks him how far he had shot his weapon before the night of Aug. 25, 2020.
"So, you didn't know the difference between what a full-metal jacket bullet would do versus a hollow-point?"
Rittenhouse apologizes and ultimately says, "I don't know."
After some of the questioning continues, the judge calls for the trial to adjourn for a lunch break. He orders court to resume in approximately one hour.
Judge Schroeder again calls for break, asking jury to be moved into library.
"This is ridiculous," the jurist says.
Defense attorney Mark Richards threatens to ask for a mistrial with prejudice is Binger continues his line of question, which is forbidden.
Judge Schroeder raises his voice to prosecution while reprimanding them over their line of questioning pertaining to Rittenhouse's use of the gun and his knowledge of the law as it pertained to his use of the gun.
This argument appears to be related to a previous incident that Schroeder prohibited the prosecution from including.
Fox News' Jiovanni Lieggi describes the incident in question: "Rittenhouse can allegedly be heard in a video saying he wished he had his AR-15 so he could fire rounds at people he believed were shoplifting."
The judge tells Binger: "You should have come to the court and said you want to go into this."
During his cross-examination, Binger repeatedly asks about Rittenhouse's age and the possession and purchase of his gun.
Schroeder: "You are already ... I was astonished when you began your examination by commenting on the defendant's ... silence" before trial.
"I don't know what you're up to."
Binger: "Your honor there have been things in this case, testimony in this case that I believe" opened the door to this line of questioning.
Binger adds: "I believe, based on the evidence that we've heard and more specifically exactly what the defendant's said earlier about admitting pointing a gun at someone who is merely jumping or sitting on a car, that the door is open now to this testimony. And I continue to believe that his state of mind, his intent, his belief as to self-defense is the core of this case."
Binger says he hopes to "impeach the defendant" on his beliefs.
After approximately 10 minutes of debate over the issue the judge asks that the jury be brought back into the courtroom.
Prosecution points to Rittenhouse's TikTok account from 2020, which featured a picture of Rittenhouse with his AR-15. His TikTok included the description, “Bruh, I’m just [trying to] be famous," Binger said (and Rittenhouse agreed).
Asked again about his EMT experience, Rittenhouse says he was an EMT cadet at the Antioch Fire Department until the incident on Aug. 25. “I was learning about certain things in the field of firefighting and EMS," Rittenhouse says.
“I was a member of the Antioch fire cadet program …” he says, noting that he had a shirt indicating that he was a staff member. When asked if he was a member of the Antioch Fire Department, Rittenhouse says he was part of the fire department's cadet program.
When asked if he told people in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, that he was an EMT, Rittenhouse says, "Yes," acknowledging that he lied. When asked, Rittenhouse says he did not lie about his age and did not tell anyone he was 18 or 19.
The judge overseeing the Kyle Rittenhouse trial over his questioning -- and accuses Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger of committing a "grave constitutional" error by choosing to stay silent before Wednesday's testimony.
After a brief reprimand, Binger is back to questioning Rittenhouse, but not for long before the judge again stops him.
Circuit Court Judge Bruce E. Schroeder stops the prosecutor as he moves to object a comment from Rittenhouse, who was describing why he wanted the gun he chose to ask his friend to purchase.
"It's not admissible, and none of this is frankly," the judge says.
Prosecution begins cross-examination, asking Rittenhouse: "Everybody that you shot at that night you intended to kill, correct?"
Rittenhouse responds: "I didn't intend to kill them. I intended ... to stop the people who were attacking me."
The prosecution grills Rittenhouse repeatedly about whether he intended to kill them.
When asked again by the prosecution if he intended to kill the three men, Rittenhouse says: "I did what I had to do to stop the person who was attacking me."
By killing them, prosecution asks? "Two of them passed away, but I stopped the threat" from attacking him.
Grosskreutz's hands are up, Rittenhouse says, but Rittenhouse knows he is armed.
Rittenhouse: "My rifle is down, his hands are up. His pistol is in his hand. And then, Mr. Grosskreutz looks at me ... Grosskretuz brings his arm down ... with me on the ground. His pistol is pointed at me. And that's when I shoot him. Once."
Rittenhouse: "He's no longer a threat to me. There's only one person in front of me and his hands are up ... I get onto one knee ..." Rittenhouse describes how the man in front of him then backs up and he does not shoot him.
Rittenhouse says he then moved toward the police line "to turn myself in" to the police there.
With his arms up, Rittenhouse says his vision is "narrow" and he had tried to move his rifle behind him "so police didn't see me as a threat."
Rittenhouse continues: "I tell the officer, ' I just shot somebody.' The officer says, 'Get the f--- back or you're going to get pepper sprayed. Go home. Go home. Go home.'"
He later describes how he was in shock and adds: "I was just attacked. My head was spinning."
He leaves Kenosha, being driven by his friend Dominick Black, and goes home before leaving with his mother for to the Antioch Police Department in his hometown.
His mother drives him to Antioch Police Department, where he arrives "about an hour after the shooting."
Rittenhouse: "My head was spinning and I couldn't think clearly at that point."
"Anthony Huber ... as I'm running past Anthony Huber ... he's holding a skateboard like a baseball bat ," Rittenhouse said. He says Huber swings the skateboard at his arm, it hits Rittenhouse as he tries to block it before the skateboard goes flying.
Rittenhouse: "As I'm on the ground, there are people around me. I don't recall how many."
He says he recalls moving his rifle in his direction. Most moved except for one.
"The last person, I don't know his name. I don't think he was ever identified. Jumps at me with his, he was wearing boots, I believe ... as his boot is making contact with my face, I fire two shots at him."
When asked why he fires two shots: "He would have stomped my face in if I didn't fire."
Huber, Rittenhouse says, "runs up, as I'm getting up, he strikes me in the neck with the skateboard a second time. He grabs my gun ... I can feel the strap coming off my body."
"I fire one shot," Rittenhouse says.
"As I'm lowering my weapon, I look down, and then Mr. Grosskreutz, he lunges at me ... with his pistol pointed directly at my head," Rittenhouse says.
Back on the stand, Rittenhouse recalls how "Mr. Ziminski instructed Mr. Rosenbaum to 'get him' and 'kill him.'"
"I turn around for a second ... I point my gun at Mr. Rosenbaum." He says that doing so did not stop Rosenbaum.
"After he throws the bag and he continues to run he's gaining steam on me. A gunshot is fired from behind me, directly behind me."
As Rittenhouse takes steps, he turns around he says.
After describing Rosenbaum chasing him, Rittenhouse says: "I remember his hands on the barrel of my gun,"
As why he doesn't keep running. He says, "there was no space for me to continue to run to."
"I shoot him," he says when asked what he did as he say Rosenbaum lunging toward him.
After shooting Rosebaum, Rittenhouse describes how he can hear people saying, "Get him."
He later adds: "A mob was chasing me." I continue torun after hearing people say, people were saying, 'Cranium him ... get him ... kill him."
He adds he was "trying to get to the police."
Rittenhouse: "I didn't do anything wrong. I was defending myself."
Rittenhouse sobs as he begins to recall how the events unfolded in the moments before he began firing his weapon.
Rittenhouse was describing how a man named Joshua Ziminski "steps toward me with a pistol in his hand. And as I'm, as I'm walking towards to put out the fire, I drop the fire extinguisher and I, I take a step back."
When asked his plan after stepping back from Ziminski, Rittenhouse responds: "My plan is to get out of that situation and go back ... to where the Car Source lot #2 was."Defense attorney asks, was he able to get back?
"I wasn't ... once I take that step back I look over my shoulder and Mr. Rosenbaum, Mr. Rosebaum was now running from my right side and I was cornered from in front of me with Mr. Ziminski and there were ... there were three people right there," he said in tears.
"That's when I run ..."
After crying for a short period, the judge calls for a 10-minute break.
When asked by his defense attorney, Rittenhouse says he is not an emergency medical technician, but has first-aid training
Joseph Rosenbaum, one of the two men who was fatally shot on Aug. 25, 2020, threatened to kill Rittenhouse or the people he was with earlier in the night, Rittenhouse testifies.
When asked if there was friction between protesters and Rittenhouse and his group earlier in the night, Rittenhouse said "No," and added that the person who had "attacked" him first "threatened to kill me twice."
He later confirmed the person he was speaking about was Rosenbaum.
Speaking about the first threat, Rittenhouse said the first threat was directed at him and Ryan Balch, one of the people he was with. The pair was in in the area of 59th Street and Sheridan "and Mr. Rosenahum was walking with a steel chain and he had a blue mask around his face and he was just mad about something."
Speaking to Rittenhouse and Balch, Rosenbaum said, "If I catch any of you f------ alone I’m going to f------ kill you … it was directed at both of us I believe," Rittenhouse recalls.
Rittenhouse said the second threat was outside of one of the Car Source locations. Rittenhouse says Rosenbaum was "screaming" at the other people from his group: "He was screaming, I’m going to cut your f------- hearts out and kill you n-words."
When asked by defense attorney Mark Richards why Rittenhouse owned a bullet proof vest, Rittenhouse responded that the vest was issued to him by a police department, adding that he did not purchase the item himself.
Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand on Wednesday in his ongoing trial in Kenosha County court.
Rittenhouse is charged with two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide, recklessly endangering safety and illegal possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.
He was 17 when he and at least one friend said they traveled to the Wisconsin city from Illinois to protect local businesses and provide medical aid after two nights of businesses being looted and set on fire.
Rittenhouse’s attorneys have argued repeatedly that their client was acting in self-defense, and fired his semi-automatic rifle because he was being chased or faced with a gun.
The prosecution has tried to depict Rittenhouse as the person who instigated the events, including by emphasizing that he is the only person to have shot someone during the night of unrest.
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