After an unusually swift jury selection, the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has kicked off in Kenosha with the first witnesses summoned by the prosecution taking the stand.
Rittenhouse, now 18, is facing six criminal counts including first-degree intentional homicide for shooting dead two men and injuring a third amid the 2020 Kenosha demonstrations.
In their opening statements, prosecutors insisted that the city had been under chaos and mayhem during angry protests over the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake “and yet, the only one who killed anyone was the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse.”
Rittenhouse’s defense attorney, on the other hand, insisted their client acted in self-defense when he shot the three protesters.
“Ultimately, what this case will come down to, isn’t a ‘whodunit,’ or when did it happen, or anything like that,” attorney Mark Richards said adding that the objective will be to determine whether Rittenhouse’s acts were “privileged under the law of self-defense.”
The prosecution then called its witnesses starting with a friend of Rittenhouse, Dominic Black, and Kenosha resident Koerri Washington, who live-streamed the shootings.
