After instances of rioting and fiery destruction, Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, took a medical kit and an AR-15-style rifle and joined up with a group of other armed people in Kenosha on August 25. The charges stem from the chaotic unrest last year in the wake of the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a misdemeanor weapons possession charge and a non-criminal curfew violation prior to deliberations. If convicted on the most serious charge, Rittenhouse faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Jurors are also able to consider lesser offenses for two of the five counts. Rittenhouse was charged with five felonies: first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. On the stand, he told jurors - and the viewing public - that he acted in self-defense. The deliberations come after a two-week trial highlighted by emotional and compelling testimony from Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old at the center of debates around self-defense, gun ownership and Black Lives Matter demonstrations. One of the videos the jury asked to rewatch - a drone video showing Rittenhouse shooting Joseph Rosenbaum - was at the heart of a defense request for a mistrial in the case. "The defendant may intentionally use force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if the defendant reasonably believed that the force used was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself," the jury instructions explain. But there are limits to a self-defense claim. The prosecution faced an uphill challenge in the case because Wisconsin law requires the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Rittenhouse did not act in self-defense. United States that we used to live in," said Justin Blake, uncle of Jacob Blake, whose shooting by police last summer sparked the protests where Rittenhouse showed up with his gun. "We want the nation to know the nation that you live in now isn't the. On a cold, sunny afternoon, crowds gathered outside the courthouse after the verdict. "We hope that decent people will join us in forcefully rejecting that message and demanding more of our laws, our officials, and our justice system." "It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street," the statement said of the verdict.
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