KENOSHA, Wis. (Reuters) – Closing arguments that began on Monday capped nearly two weeks of at times tense court proceedings in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jury-decide-fate-shooter-kyle-rittenhouse-after-closing-arguments-2021-11-15, the 18-year-old charged with murdering two men and wounding another during racial justice protests in the Wisconsin city of Kenosha last year.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys for Rittenhouse each get 2-1/2 hours to present the jury with opposing narratives about Rittenhouse’s actions in a case that has polarized the United States.
Here are some key quotes and moments from the prosecution’s closing arguments. The defense will make its case when the trial resumes in the afternoon.
PROSECUTION:
– Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger told the jury, “This is a case in which a 17-year-old teenager killed two unarmed men and severely wounded a third person with an AR-15,” he said. “This isn’t a situation where he was protecting his home or his family. He killed people after traveling here from Antioch, Illinois, and staying out after a citywide curfew.”
– “So when we think about the defendant, I’d like you to consider as you think about this case, what his true motivations were. Was this a situation where he sincerely cared about Car Source even though he’d never heard of it, never bought anything there?,” Binger told the jury. “Was he genuinely interested in helping people? He ran around with an AR-15 all night and lied about being an EMT. Does that suggest to you that he genuinely is there to help?”
-“In America it’s hard these days, people are polarized,” said the prosecutor. “We’ve all agreed – and I asked you this two weeks ago today – raise your hand if you agree life is more important than property. And all of you raised your hand. We also agree that no one person’s life is more valuable than another. You don’t get to kill someone simply because they’re a drug dealer. You don’t weigh a pastor’s life over a teacher’s life… All life is sacred.”
– “I think we can also agree that we shouldn’t have 17-year-olds running around our streets with AR-15s because this is exactly what happens,” Binger said.
– Binger argued that Rittenhouse provoked one of the two men he shot and killed, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, by raising his rifle. “That is what provokes this entire incident,” he told jurors. “If you are the one who is threatening others, you lose the right to self-defense.”
(Reporting by Maria Caspani and Nathan Layne, Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
