Jury reaches verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial

KENOSHA, Wis. — The jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse — a case that has become a flashpoint in the debate in the U.S. over guns, protests, vigilantism, and law and order.

The parties to the case are gathering for the reading of the verdict. The jury came back with a decision after close to 3 1/2 days of deliberations.

Rittenhouse, an 18-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him over the August 2020 fatal shootings of two men and the wounding of a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Jurors listened to two weeks of dueling portrayals of Rittenhouse. Prosecutors say he was a “wannabe soldier” who brought a semi-automatic rifle to a racial justice protest and instigated the bloodshed. The defense says he acted in self-defense.