Kyle Rittenhouse Court
Getty Image
Viral

The World Reacts To The Not Guilty Verdict In The Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

Following an intense, heavily-scrutinized trial, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges stemming from his shooting of two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year. An emotional Rittenhouse broke down while his verdict was being read and collapsed into his seat when he was found not guilty of the fourth and final charge. Following the verdict, Judge Bruce Schroeder, who exhibited controversial behavior during the trial, including screaming “Don’t get brazen with me” at a prosecutor and disrupting the proceedings when his phone’s ringtone began playing a popular song at Donald Trump rallies, praised the jury for its decision. Via CNN:

The panel of five men and seven women deliberated more than 25 hours over the past four days in a closely watched case that polarized an already divided nation. They had asked the court a handful of questions, including requests Wednesday to rewatch much of the video evidence of the shootings. In the end, the panel agreed with the defendant’s testimony that he feared for his life and acted in self-defense.

The judge praised the jury, saying he “couldn’t have asked for a better jury.”

Rittenhouse’s trial has been a highly partisan spectacle thanks to a combination of Second Amendment advocates and the Black Lives Matter protests that broke out last year following a spate of police shootings. Liberals wanted to see Rittenhouse convicted for traveling across state lines and killing two people with an illegally obtained AR-15 while “protecting” a town he doesn’t live in. Conservatives, on the other hand, view Rittenhouse as a “folk hero” and believe he was justified in killing the protestors for self-defense reasons, and in some cases, racially motivated reasons.

With the trial already being a contentious subject, Rittenhouse being acquitted sparked strong reactions from social media as celebrities weighed in on the verdict:

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1461773030087004164

https://twitter.com/briankoppelman/status/1461761285478092808

https://twitter.com/danieldaekim/status/1461768304452767744

Political commentators also had a lot of to say about the verdict, which was, sadly, not surprising:

And, naturally, right-wing figures were either having an all-out celebration and/or preparing to sue… Joe Biden? You pretty much get the gist here:

(Via CNN)