Jury Selection Completed in One Day in Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

By Kelton Brooks Published: November 2, 2021

Jury Selection Completed in One Day in Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

This undated booking photo from the Antioch (Illinois) Police Department shows Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been charged with fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during protest in Kenosha, Wis., in late August. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Wendy Rittenhouse said neither her son nor the protesters should have been on the street that night and put much of the blame for what happened on police and the governor. “The police should have helped the businesses out instead of having a 17-year-old kid helping him," she said. “The police should have been involved with these people that lost their businesses. They should have stepped up." (Antioch Police Department/Chicago Tribune via AP)

In Summary

A jury has been selected in the trial for Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three people, killing two, during a protest against racial injustice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020

It took a single day to seat a jury in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three people and is accused of killing two during a protest against racial injustice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.

The goal of the jury is to determine whether Rittenhouse acted in self-defense or used his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle intentionally to shoot three people, killing two.

Judge Bruce Schroeder previously stated that referring to the men who died, Anthony M. Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, as “victims” may be too “loaded,” but they could be referred to as “rioters” and “looters” by Rittenhouse’s defense team.

On the night of August 25, 2020, Rittenhouse, then 17 years old, armed himself with an AR-15-style rifle and drove down from Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha to protect businesses during the protest. The victims Rittenhouse is accused of shooting and killing are white, but at the time hundreds of others were protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot multiple times by police while attempting to enter his car.

Blake survived the seven shots to his back from police officer Rusten Sheskey, but the shooting left him paralyzed from the waist down.

In addition to allegedly killing Rosenbaum and Huber, Rittenhouse is also accused of shooting and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27. He was charged with felony homicide and felony attempted homicide.

In the jury selection, 20 people were chosen, which included 12 jurors and eight alternates. The jurors consist of 11 women and nine men.

The racial makeup of the jurors was not identified.

Some of the jurors include gun owners, a woman who was afraid of protests, a special education teacher with anxiety from being on the jury and a pharmacist.

Rittenhouse faces two homicide counts and one of attempted homicide, along with charges of reckless endangering and illegal possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.