KENOSHA (NewsNation Now) — The defense rested its case Thursday in the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, setting the stage for closing arguments on Monday.
On Friday, prosecutors and defense attorneys for Rittenhouse will return to the courthouse without the jury to finalize how jurors will be instructed when they get the case next week. The jury has been dismissed for the weekend.
After closing arguments, names will be drawn from an old, brown lottery tumbler to decide which 12 jurors will deliberate and which ones will be dismissed as alternates. Eighteen people have been hearing the case. The jurors appeared overwhelmingly white.
Earlier in the week, Rittenhouse testified in his homicide trial, detailing how he shot three men during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha last year following the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz on Aug. 25, 2020. He faces multiple charges, including intentional homicide. Rittenhouse, now 18, has argued that the men attacked him and he fired in self-defense.
Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to six charges including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree attempted intentional homicide.
Prosecutors have said they will ask Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to allow the jury to consider possible lesser charges on some of the counts.
Rittenhouse faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him.
