Prosecutors and defense lawyers are making their closing arguments in the criminal trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old who is charged with homicide after fatally shooting two protesters during unrest last year in Kenosha, Wis.

Rittenhouse and his lawyers have argued that he was acting in self-defense when he shot three people with his AR-15-style rifle. In a dramatic turn on the stand last week, Rittenhouse testified that he feared for his life.

A prosecutor hoping to send Kyle Rittenhouse to prison made closing arguments in his homicide trial on Monday. The jury was expected to begin weighing later in the day whether Mr. Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense, or needlessly and illegally, when he shot three men in Kenosha last summer, two of them fatally, during a night of unrest.

Thomas Binger, who is leading the prosecution, used some of his final moments before the jury to attack Mr. Rittenhouse’s claim that he thought he had to fire at the men to stop them from killing or gravely wounding him.

Rittenhouse faces charges including first-degree intentional homicide, which is Wisconsin’s murder count; attempted first-degree intentional homicide; first-degree reckless homicide and reckless endangering.

Rittenhouse was 17 when he and at least one friend said they traveled to the Wisconsin city of Kenosha from Illinois on Aug. 25, 2020, to protect local businesses and provide medical aid after two nights of unrest, with businesses being looted and set on fire. 

Kyle Rittenhouse was 17 when he killed two Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and wounded another. Rittenhouse, who is now 18, has been charged as an adult with five felonies and is accused of crossing state lines and using a gun to kill Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum, and injure Gaige Grosskreutz. Earlier this month, amid a swarm of controversy, he went on trial in a Kenosha courtroom. 

Kyle Rittenhouse broke down sobbing on the stand while testifying in his own defense on Wednesday, prompting the judge to call a ten-minute recess.

Rittenhouse began to sob and hyperventilate as he described the moment he fatally shot two attackers and wounded another during a protest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc.

Prosecutors in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse so far have a case that comes down to this: What if the things our witnesses say they saw and thought during that fateful night of rioting last year are all wrong?

If this were a legitimate murder trial, and not one instigated by Democrats and the media for political purposes, that’s the kind of argument that a defense team would be making. It’s a concept otherwise known as “reasonable doubt.”

A jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has begun hearing evidence that will help them decide whether Kyle Rittenhouse is guilty of reckless or intentional homicide in the shooting of three people during August 2020 racial injustice protests, or if he acted in self-defense.

The first week of testimony has come to a close in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old charged with homicide after he shot and killed two protesters at a demonstration in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020.

The protests in Kenosha began after police shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, on Aug. 23, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Multiple nights of unrest followed, with rioters destroying police cars and burning and damaging businesses.

Kyle Rittenhouse, a young gunman facing criminal charges in the killing of two men and the serious injury of a third this summer in Kenosha, Wis., entered not guilty pleas to all charges during an arraignment Tuesday.

Rittenhouse, now 18, appeared before Kenosha County Circuit Court Commissioner Loren Keating by video link from the office of his attorney Mark Richards. He is free on $2 million bail, largely provided by donors. Rittenhouse was wearing a light blue shirt and dark tie along with a black facial covering.

A Wisconsin court on Thursday refused to drop two of the charges against Kenosha gunman Kyle Rittenhouse — clearing the way for the teenager’s upcoming murder trial.

Rittenhouse, 17, who is free on $2 million bond posted by supporters, faces intentional and reckless homicide charges in the Aug. 25 shooting death of two protesters and the wounding of a third during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Kenosha.

The teen’s lawyer wanted two of the six charges — a misdemeanor gun charge and a felony count of reckless endangerment — to be dismissed, USA Today reported.