A group of 18 jurors was in court for the entirety of the trial but six were dismissed by a random drawing on Tuesday morning. The final 12-person jury panel is made up of five men and seven women, according to a pool reporter in court.
Shortly after deliberations began, just after 9 a.m. CT, the jurors asked the judge for extra copies of the 36-page jury instructions. They initially asked for extra copies of pages 1 through 6 of the instructions and later requested extra copies of pages 7 to 36, according to the pool reporter.
Jurors concluded deliberating for the day just before 7 p.m. CT. They are expected to resume deliberating Wednesday at 9 a.m.
In closing arguments Monday, the prosecution argued Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, provoked the fatal shootings by pointing his AR-15-style weapon at Joseph Rosenbaum, setting off a series of events that left two people dead and one wounded.
“That is what provokes this entire incident,” prosecutor Thomas Binger said. “When the defendant provokes this incident, he loses the right to self-defense. You cannot claim self-defense against a danger you create.”
In response, defense attorney Mark Richards said Rittenhouse feared for his life when he fatally shot Rosenbaum, who Richards argued had threatened him, chased him, thrown a plastic bag at him and lunged for his gun. Rittenhouse also shot at three other people who, his attorney argued, had attacked him.
“Every person who was shot was attacking Kyle. One with a skateboard, one with his hands, and one with his feet, one with a gun,” Richards said. “Hands and feet can cause great bodily harm.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself,” he testified.
Rittenhouse, now 18, is charged with five felonies: first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. Jurors are also able to consider lesser offenses for two of the five counts. If convicted on the most serious charge, Rittenhouse could face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
What happened in the trial
Prosecutors called 22 witnesses over the course of six days as they sought to show Rittenhouse acted recklessly and provoked Rosenbaum by pointing the rifle at him. The prosecution portrayed the three other people who confronted the teen as “heroes” trying to stop what they believed to be an active shooting.
Yet he testified on cross-examation that he knew Rosenbaum was unarmed when he opened fire. Rittenhouse also acknowledged that he had pointed his rifle at the man — which the prosecution argues provoked Rosenbaum in the first place.
“He was chasing me, I was alone, he threatened to kill me earlier that night. I didn’t want to have to shoot him,” Rittenhouse testified. “I pointed it at him because he kept running at me and I didn’t want him to chase me.”
The trial featured more than a dozen videos from the night that showed what happened before, during and after the shootings. Most of the facts of what happened that night were not up for debate — rather, at the heart of the trial was the analysis of Rittenhouse’s actions and whether they can be considered “reasonable.”
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