Rittenhouse, 18, has been charged with killing two protesters and wounding a third with a semi-automatic rifle during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of a Black man on August 25, 2020. Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to homicide and attempted homicide charges.
The duelling narratives came on the first day of testimony in what is poised to be the biggest US court test of a civilian's right to self-defence since George Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013 in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Florida.
In contrast, Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger painted Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, as the aggressor. He repeated seven times in his opening statement that the teenager was the only person to have shot anyone on a night when hundreds of protesters had taken to the streets, some peacefully and others engaged in arson, looting and rioting.
The unrest in Kenosha erupted after a white policeman shot and seriously wounded Jacob Blake, a Black man. That shooting took place against the backdrop of nationwide protests over racism and police brutality following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, another Black man, by a policeman in Minneapolis.
Rittenhouse, a resident of Antioch, Illinois, is charged with reckless and intentional homicides in the killing of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and attempted homicide for wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27, with a bullet to the arm.
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