State Watch

Rittenhouse picks final jurors from raffle tumbler

Kyle Rittenhouse, who is on trial for fatally shooting two people and injuring another during protests in Kenosha, Wis., last summer, selected the final jurors who will decide his verdict from a raffle tumbler on Tuesday.

Judge Bruce Schroeder instructed one of the defense attorneys to put a pile of paper slips with the numbers of the 18 jurors, which he said had been exhibited to the defendant, in the raffle drum.

The bailiff, after spinning the drum, opened it to Rittenhouse, and he selected six slips of paper one by one, eliminating those six and leaving 12 official jurors.

Jurors 11, 58, 14, 45, 9 and 52 will now serve as alternates.

According to a reporter in the courtroom cited by The New York Times, the six jurors who were dismissed appear to be three white men and three white women, leaving the single person of color on the jury.

Seven women and five men are now deliberating over the verdict in the highly anticipated case after listening to 10 days of testimony and arguments from both sides, according to NBC News.

Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, during protests that broke out in Kenosha in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man.

He also shot and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, who was 26 at the time.

Rittenhouse, who has said he acted in self-defense, faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide and two counts of reckless endangerment.

He was also originally charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor, but Schroeder dropped that count on Monday.

“Alright folks, you can retire to consider your verdicts,” Schroeder told the jury after they took an oath and left the courtroom to begin deliberations.

Tags Bruce Schroeder Jacob Blake Kenosha unrest shooting Kyle Rittenhouse police brutality Police shootings

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