Transcript

ADA Thomas Binger, Opening Statement

WI v. Rittenhouse
November 2, 2021

Judge Schroeder: With that Mr. Binger, you may proceed.

ADA Binger: Thank you Judge. Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

The evidence in this case will show that on the night of August 25, 2020, here in our community of
Kenosha, the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse, who was 17 years old at the time, had armed himself with
an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle loaded with 30 rounds in the magazine.

And using that rifle, he shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, an unarmed man. The shot that killed Mr.
Rosenbaum was a shot to the back. This occurred after the defendant chased down Mr. Rosenbaum
and confronted him while wielding that AR-15. The evidence will show that the defendant fled the scene
of the dead body of Joseph Rosenbaum without stopping to offer any aid whatsoever.

And as he's running word spreads from the crowd on the street, that there is an active shooter running
through the area. And the citizens their attempt to stop him. They approach the defendant, one person
hits him in the back of the head, one person takes a swing at him with a skateboard, that individual’s
Anthony Huber. Eventually, the defendant loses his balance and falls to the ground.

An individual who is the subject of count number two, the unknown individual, runs in at that point, and
attempts to kick the defendant in the face while defender’s on the ground. This unknown individual is
unarmed. The defendant in response points his AR-15 directly at this individual as this individual's
literally flying over his body and discharges that gun twice. Luckily, that individual was not hit. But
clearly if he had been hit, the wound would have been severe and perhaps even fatal.

Immediately after that, Anthony Huber, who is holding a skateboard comes in and reaches for the
defendant’s gun. He grabs hold of the gun and tries to pull it away from the defendant. The defendant is
wearing his AR-15 strapped to his body. There is a nylon strap around his entire body and the gun is
slung from that, so it is essentially attached to him. Mr. Huber's efforts are unsuccessful because of that
strap. And in that struggle, the gun winds up pointed directly at Mr. Huber's chest. The defendant pulls
the trigger one time and discharges a round into Mr. Huber's chest, killing him instantly.

A final individual by the name of Gaige Grosskreutz has followed this chase on foot and has
approached the definitive this time. Mr. Grosskreutz is holding his cell phone that he'd been using to
record the night's events for a live stream on Facebook in one hand, and a Glock semi-automatic pistol
in the other hand. He runs up to the defendant. The defendant turns towards him with the AR-15. Mr.
Grosskreutz raises his hand. The defendant then turns his rifle over begins to examine it for a second.

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Mr. Grosskreutz takes this opportunity, and you will see in the photos in the videos that he blades his
body with his left hand reaching towards the defendant. His right arm is pulled back. This is the one
with the gun in his hand. And as he's reaching for the defendant, the defendant turns the AR-15 and
discharges the eighth and final round into Mr. Grosskreutz’ right arm, the arm with the gun. Mr.
Grosskreutz runs off the screaming for a medic, the defendant gets up and walks away.

On that night, he killed two unarmed people, shot at a third at very close range, and wounded Mr.
Grosskreutz in the arm, who was armed with a gun. It is the State's position that this evidence
demonstrates the criminal charges against the defendant. His intentional homicide of Anthony Huber
and his reckless conduct towards the other defendants.

Now what I've just given you is the snapshot, but there's a wider context here. As we all discussed
yesterday, this occurs during the context of the events following the shooting of Jacob Blake, which
occurred on Sunday night, August 23, 2020.

We all know that within a short period of time after that the community erupted in protests, looting,
rioting, arson, and violence. Sunday night and Monday night, were two of the roughest nights that our
community has ever seen. We are well aware of the damage that the uptown area along 22nd Avenue
suffered ,the probation and parole office on 16th Street, the furniture, business there, Car Source, one
of their locations on Sheridan, and other properties around town that were damaged.

Fortunately, in the entire sequence of events, this was all property damage. And one of the things we
all agreed on yesterday, is life is more important than property. Up until Tuesday night, despite all the
things that the community had experienced, no one had been killed. But what happened as the time
went on, was that the people of Kenosha, who felt a sense of outrage, began to protest. But like moths
to a flame, tourists from outside of our community were drawn to chaos here in Kenosha, people from
outside of Kenosha came in, and contributed to that chaos.

And it caused many of our citizens to fear for their safety, fear for their homes and their families, fear for
their businesses, and take steps to protect themselves. Whether it is to arm themselves, board up their
windows, move or take time away from the community. All of those reactions were entirely
understandable and reasonable. And no one here is going to tell you otherwise. As long as those are
what you're left doing, there's no issue.

But out of the hundreds of people that came to Kenosha during that week, the hundreds of people that
were out on the streets that week, the evidence will show that the only person who killed anyone was
the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse. The evidence will show that hundreds of people were out in the street
experiencing chaos and violence. And the only person who killed anyone was the defendant, Kyle
Rittenhouse. We will show you videos of some of the events that night of police tear gas, rubber bullets.
And yet the only person who killed anyone was the defendant. There are fireworks going off, which is a
loud noise sounds like gunfire. There are fire guns being discharged the sound of gunfire throughout
our community that night. Hundreds of people are there experiencing this. And yet the only one who
kills anyone is the defendant. We will show you video of hostile confrontation between literally hundreds
of people on one side of the issue and on the other side of the issue. People getting up in each other's

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faces. And yet the only person who killed anyone is the defendant. Hundreds of people experienced
those knights experienced the night of August 25 experienced that chaos, hundreds of people and yet
the only one who killed anyone is the defendant, Kyle Rittenhouse.

Recently, I heard someone sort of tongue in cheek joke that jury service is bringing in folks from our
community and paying them $8 a day to help solve a murder. We're not asking you to solve a mystery
in this case. In most homicide cases, the elements that I need to prove might be a little challenging, but
here, there's no doubt there will be no dispute in this record, that the defendant had that gun that night,
shot eight bullets, four of them hit Joseph Rosenbaum, two of them at an unknown individual, one into
Anthony Huber's chest and one into Gaige Grosskreutz’ arm. That will not be in dispute.

The central issue in this case is going to be self-defense. And the judge has given you an instruction,
which I want to highlight here because there are some factors that I'd like you to keep in mind when you
hear the evidence in this case.

The defendant used deadly force. There is a privilege under our laws to use deadly force, but it's a very
limited privilege. That privilege, according to the law, indicates that the defendant can only use deadly
force if he reasonably believed that the force was necessary to prevent him imminent death or great
bodily harm to himself.

In determining whether or not those beliefs were reasonable, the standard is what a person of ordinary
intelligence and prudence would have believed in the defendant’s position, under the circumstances
that existed at the time of the offense. The reasonableness of the defendants beliefs must be
determined from the standpoint of the defendant at the time of his acts, and not with the benefit of
hindsight.

You are essentially the people of ordinary intelligence and prudence, who will apply that standard of
reasonableness to the defendant’s behavior and make a determination as to whether or not his use of
deadly force was reasonable. Was it reasonable for the defendant to believe that the force was
necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself.

So, let's talk about the context of that evening. And I'm going to try and go in a little bit of chronological
order to set things up for you so you understand the evidence as it comes in in this trial.

The first witness you're going to hear from this trial is a man by the name of Dominick Black. Dominick
Black was at the time of this incident dating Mackenzie Rittenhouse, who is the defendant’s sister, and
through Mackenzie, Dominick Black got to know the defendant. And they spent a lot of time together in
the months leading up to August 25, 2020. In fact, on May 1 of 2020, Dominick Black bought the AR-
15. for the defendant. That occurred up in Lady Smith, Wisconsin. Dominick Black used money that
was given to him by the defendant to go to an Ace Hardware up in Lady Smith and buy the gun in
Dominick Black’s name. Now, you might ask, why was it necessary for Dominick Black to do that? Why
couldn't the defendant do that? Because the defendant was 17. And Dominick Black and the defendant
knew that because the defendant is 17, he cannot purchase a gun, he cannot legally own a gun. And
so this was in effect a straw purchase on behalf of Dominick Black, on behalf of the defendant.

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After the gun is purchased in Lady Smith, Dominick Black and the defendant spent a little time up there
a Dominick Black’s family’s hunting property, and they fire both that AR-15, and one that Dominick
Black already had. And the two of them are practicing using their AR-15 at a shooting range that they
have on that property. And Mr. Black will tell you some more about that.

Then they agreed that that gun would not go home with the defendant to his home in Antioch, Illinois. It
would stay here in Kenosha, at the residence of Dominick Black’s stepfather, in a locked gun case.
And, in fact, after the two of them returned from Lady Smith, in early May of 2020. The gun stayed at
that residence here in Kenosha until the day of August 25, 2020.

On the night leading up to August 25, that Monday night the defendant stayed over at Mr. Black’s
residence here in Kenosha, and the two of them decided on that next day, Tuesday, August 25, that
they would do something about what was going on in Kenosha. So at one point earlier in the day, they
come down here, they work on cleaning up some graffiti on some buildings here downtown, then they
decide they want to come back later that night, and protect a local business, a business called Car
Source, which is located at 59th and Sheridan.

Now, as I talked to you a little bit about yesterday, Car Source actually has three locations very close in
this downtown area. One of them was on the east side of Sheridan Road, at 58th and Sheridan. Either
on Sunday or Monday night. I think it was on Monday night, August 24, that entire property was pretty
much destroyed. There were multiple cars in the parking lot that were set fire and completely burned
out. The building itself was damaged as well. Right across the street from there is another Car Source
location that also sold used cars. And some of those cars had been damaged on the night of Monday,
August 24.

So on Tuesday, when the defendant and Mr. Black are out and about, they encounter one of the
owners of Car Source, and they talked to him about protecting their 59th Street location that night. And
there's some discussion about that. In the afternoon, Mr. Black and the defendant go out to Jalensky’s
on highway 31 Green Bay Road and they acquire straps so that they can sling those guns around
themselves when they come back to the downtown area that night.

And eventually later that evening they return they meet up with some other folks that are interested in
protecting car source. Originally they started out at 63rd Street record source, which is the third and
final car source location, but then they agree, we're going to go to the 59th Street ,59th and Sheraton
location and protect that location to make sure no one damages the cars. No one damages the
property. And I want to be clear, there's nothing wrong with that. Protecting that property is entirely
lawful. Totally understandable. And it's something that many people here in Kenosha did.

And there's a group of people, including the defendant and Dominick Black, that take up positions at
59th Street. Some of them like the defendant are on the ground, in the parking lot, whereas people are
walking by in the street, they're having interactions with these people. Dominick Black will testify, he
took up a position on the roof. He did that because he didn't want to be on the ground close to where

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other folks were, close to where potential issues might arise. He wanted to stay a little bit removed from
all of that. Didn't want to get directly involved in it.

You will hear and see videos of sequence of events going on around Kenosha that night. The evening
begins with large scale protests, large scale, no other way to put it, rioting that's occurring, right outside
these windows, right in front of the courthouse here at Civic Center Park. There is a crowd of police that
are lined up to protect this building to protect the public safety building, which is right next door. And
there are a large number of protesters that are agitating, they are screaming at the police, they are
throwing projectiles. Police are shooting rubber bullets, tear gas, etc., is a very volatile situation at Civic
Center Park. Now, that's at 56th and Sheridan, about three blocks north of the Car Source where the
defendant was.

But as the evening goes on, the police decide to move the line of protesters south on Sheridan, and
eventually they pass the car source at 59th and Sheridan. The police establish a line at 60th in
Sheridan, one block south.

Now as that process is going on, many of these protesters passed by the defendant and the people that
he's with at 59th Street, words are exchanged. There is confrontation, there is a little bit of hostility, no
one is hurt. No one fires a gun. No one is injured. But clearly there's antagonism. It is clear that this is a
crowd that is not on the same side as the defendant, that does not see him as an ally, does not see him
and his group as someone that they identify with.

And as I said, there is a hostile exchange there for a while, in fact, at one point, members of the crowd
pull one of the dumpsters from the property out into the street and attempt to start it on fire. And some
of the other folks that are there with the defendant go out and put the fire out, and have some very
harsh interactions with those people in the street.

I believe the evidence will show that it is this process that demonstrated for the defendant that this is a
crowd that is not a safe crowd to be. This is a crowd that does not view him as an ally. This is a crowd
that if he ventures out into it, there could be problems.

Now, once the police pass by and the protesters are pushed down south of 60th, I believe the evidence
will show that the Car Source that the defendant is stationed at is no longer in danger. There's no one
there who's attempting to damage the property. There's no one there who's going to do anything to
harm anyone there. The situation has moved on. Does the defendant stay there? Does he decide that
he's done what he set out to do? And it's time to go home? No.

The evidence will show that the defendant another individual in the group by the name of Ryan Balch,
who you will hear from, decide to venture out into the crowd. They crossed the police line at 60th and
Sheridan and they walk amongst this group of hostile protesters. At some point, they both wind up at a
gas station on the southeast corner of 16th and Sheradon called Ultimate Gas. And you'll see some
video of the scene there.

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It is a scene again, of groups of people that are clashing with one another verbally. There's some
shoving going on. And in the midst of this is Joseph Rosenbaum. And you will hear some testimony
about Mr. Rosenbaum and his activities that night.

Mr. Rosenbaum had been discharged from the hospital that very day and had come back to his home
of Kenosha, had met up with his girlfriend, Kariann Swart. He couldn't stay with her, so he left her and
came downtown, and got caught up in the midst of these protests.

You will see him on videos, you will see photographs of him as he's walking around. He is carrying a
plastic bag. Part of that plastic bag is clear and see through. It has a string, white string, drawstring to it.
It is the type of bag I believe the evidence will show that you get at the hospital, when you're asked to
put all of your personal possessions in a bag, your shoes, your watch, your phone, your jewelry, etc.
That's the type of bag it is. And I believe the evidence will show that he was carrying it around most of
that evening.

And at very various points, the evidence will show that Mr. Rosenbaum is agitated, he is getting in
people's faces, he is using obscenities, he is essentially daring people to respond. In fact, at Ultimate
Gas, I believe the evidence will show that he actually gets right up in the face of armed people, who are
similarly armed as the defendants, who have similar AR-15 type rifles. And he is literally confronting
them in their faces. None of those folks shoot him. They push him away. He's five foot three, by the
way, 150 pounds. They push him away. No one appears to take him as a serious danger.

The defendant is at the Ultimate Gas station during part of this. So is Ryan Balch. I believe Mr. Balch
will testify that there was an understanding that when we cross south of 60th, we stay together, we try
not to intervene in anything. But if we get separated, head back to 59th Street, where our original group
is. Mr. Balch does. The defendant attempts to. He comes up to the police line. They won't let him pass.
He says I work at that business, and points to 59th Street. And again, they won't let him directly through
the line.

Now, I believe the evidence will show that he could have easily gone a block in either direction if he
really want to go back. But he turns away from the police line returns to the Ultimate Gas station. And a
few minutes later, we see him on the video of a man by the name of Cory Elijah, who will testify very
shortly here in this trial.

Mr. Corey Elijah was one of these people out on the streets, who was Facebook live streaming the
events of that night, and he catches the defendant passing right in front of him with a fire extinguisher.
The gun still slung around his body strapped to his body. And Cory Elijah will testify this caught his
attention, where's he going with this fire extinguisher? And so Cory Elijah decides to follow with his
video recording the entire way. And we will show you that video.

You will see that as Corey Elijah leaves the Ultimate Gas station at 60th and Sheridan, and heads
south, he passes by the defendant who by this point is walking, holding a fire extinguisher in his hand
all by himself. Cory Elijah, I don't think registers that that's the person I originally saw. And he keeps on
passing him.

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And as he continues, he passes by Joseph Rosenbaum, who at this point is taking his shirt off. He's got
shorts on and he's taking this shirt and kind of wrapped it around his head. And Mr. Rosenbaum is still
carrying that plastic hospital bag and walking down Sheridan towards the 63rd street Car Source.

The defendant is behind him at some distance. As they get down to the 6200, into the 6300 block of
Sheridan road, that block on the west side of shared has a house, right at the corner of 62nd and
Sheridan, and then on the south end of that block the south half is the Car Source lot

You will hear testimony from someone from the FBI who was up in a plane that night taking video and
we will show you the video. It is an infrared video, which means it picks up heat. This is at nighttime so
regular cameras, especially from an airplane, aren't going to be able to see everything. So the infrared
helps us to see in the dark. The video picks up Mr. Rosenbaum. It is quite clear to see him because he
is a white blob. Infrared picks up heat, he doesn't have his shirt on. So the cloth of a shirt would help
conceal some of that heat. But when you don't have your shirt on, that heat radiates in the infrared
picks it up more clearly. So he's very easy to see in the video as a white dot.

You see him [Rosenbaum] running towards the 63rd Car Source. And behind him running in the same
direction, following him, is the defendant. As they get to the 63rd Street Car Source there are some
cars on the north side of that lot. Mr. Rosenbaum peels off behind those cars and the defendant stops
on the other side of those cars. and turns towards Mr. Rosenbaum.

Now, obviously, in an infrared video from a plane overhead, we don't know exactly what was going on
at that very moment. We don't know what words were said. But what's clear is whatever that
confrontation that was initiated by the defendant started, it caused Mr. Rosenbaum to come around the
cars and start running after the defendant.

The defendant drops the fire extinguisher right there and runs, carrying his AR-15. At some point during
that foot pursuit, the defendant turns around, points the gun at Mr. Rosenbaum, who puts his hands up
in the air. Now remember, he has got no shirt on? He's got his hands up in the air, almost like what are
you going to do? The defendant stops pointing at Mr. Rosenbaum, continues to run.

And right around this time, there is a gunshot from someone else. We have identified by the name of
Joshua Ziminski. This is an individual who's walking on the sidewalk, probably 30 feet away from where
the defendant and Mr. Rosenbaum are running. Mr. Ziminski for reasons only he can explain, decided
to take his handgun and fire it one time in the air. As I said this is in a different direction, many feet
away from where the defendant was. Mr. Rosenbaum continues to pursue the defendant. And we will
have detective Martin Howard testify that he's timed the gap between Mr. Ziminski’s shot, and the
defendant’s gunshots as about 2.5 or 2.6. seconds.

Mr. Rosenbaum closes on the defendant. The defendant turns and fires four shots.

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And Mr. Rosenbaum, you will hear the testimony from the Milwaukee County Medical examiner Dr.
Douglas Kelley, that Mr. Rosenbaum suffered five wounds total from four bullets. Dr. Kelly will testify
that the first two wounds that were inflicted upon Mr. Rosenbaum were to his lower extremities. We're
not sure which order they were in. But one was to his right pelvis, fracturing his pelvis, and one was to
his left lower thigh. Dr. Kelly will testify that these wounds caused Mr. Rosenbaum to start falling face
forward. And you will see video of his body where it is found. He lands on his face, face down on the
ground. As he's falling, the defendant fires two more shots. One of them hits the defendant in the back,
or I'm sorry, Mr. Rosenbaum in the back, and that is the shot that kills Mr. Rosenbaum, according to Dr.
Kellye.

You will hear testimony from someone by the name of Richie McGinnis. Richie McGinnis is a reporter
who came to Kenosha to cover the events of that night. And at some point shortly before these
shootings, he encounters the defendant at 59th Street and interviews him, he talks to the defendant
and then follows the defendant down Sheridan Road, and is right behind the defendant as these
shootings are occur. In fact, he is in the Car Source lot. He is behind Mr. Rosenbaum when Mr.
Rosenbaum is shot. And Mr. McGinnis will testify that one of those rounds came close to him, which is
the basis for the count that we've alleged that Mr. McGinnis was recklessly harmed or placed in danger
by the defendant.

Mr. McGinnis will testify that when he saw Joseph Rosenbaum, shot and fall to the ground, he
immediately ran up and attempted to treat Mr. Rosenbaum. He took off his shirt. He used it to try and
stem some bleeding. He rolled Mr. Rosenbaum over onto his back, and he's attempting to administer
first aid. Many other people respond at that very moment to that location and attempt to help Mr.
Rosenbaum. They eventually lift him up. They carry him across the street to [garbled], formerly known
as Kenosha Memorial Hospital, KMH, which happens to be right across the street. These folks load him
into a hospital SUV that's there in the back of it, and it races off towards the emergency room to try and
save Mr. Rosenbaum's life. That's what Mr. McGinnis does.

The defendant, after shooting Mr. Rosenbaum, gets on his phone, calls Dominick Black and says I just
shot somebody, and starts running away. Now, one of the things that you will see in here in this case is
that the defendant throughout this entire evening held himself out as an EMT, as a medic, that he's
carrying a medical bag with him strapped to his body. And yet, in this time of Mr. Rosenbaum there on
the ground, injured, potentially dying, the defendant offers no aid, but instead runs.

He runs up Sheridan Road, he encounters another member of their group from 59th Street, who you
will hear testify, by the name of Jason Lakoswki. Jason Lakowski is similarly arm. He's a former Marine.
He had been with the defendant 59th Street and had come down in response to the gunshots.

Mr. Lakoswki will testify that he met Mr. Rittenhouse as the defendant was fleeing the scene. And Mr.
Rittenhouse said to him, I didn't shoot anybody, but I need help. And Mr. Lakoswki says, head up
towards the police.

So the defendant starts running north on Sheridan.

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The crowd starts yelling that guy, the defendant just shot somebody. Because that's all the knowledge
they have at that point. And it’s true. So they begin to chase after him. They clearly believe he's an
active shooter. And they try and stop it. And I've already described to you the events that follow. Mr.
Huber, the unknown individual, and Mr. Grosskreutz.

So, when we talk in this trial, about the nights of August 25, we need to keep in mind the context of that
night, we need to keep in mind the fact that there were hundreds of people on the street that night,
experiencing the same chaos, the same loud noises, the same gunfire, the same arson, the same tear
gas, the same hostile confrontations with people who believe the opposite of them.

And yet out of these hundreds of people, only one person killed anyone that night. Only one person
shot anyone that night. When we consider the reasonableness of the defendant’s actions, I aske you to
keep that in mind.

Now, in this trial, you're going to hear from a number of witnesses from the State. I've already told you
about a few of them. We are going to begin the testimony with Dominick Black, and he will tell you a
little bit about the acquisition of those guns. You will hear from Corey Elijah, who is live streaming the
events that night, you will hear from Detective Martin Howard, who worked diligently to gather evidence
including many different videos, many different photos, of the scene that night.

We are going to use that television to show you these things so that you can see them yourself. I know
many of you alluded to the fact yesterday that you've watched or read things about this, you will get the
full story here in the courtroom. And you will see some things that have not been made public yet. We
intend to do that by moving the TV as central as we can, so that you can see this up close and as well
as possible. And we will show you as much as we can about those night, about that, the events of that
night.

You will hear from the FBI individual who was in the plane, taking that infrared video that shows the
defendant chasing Mr. Rosenbaum and initiating that confrontation.

You will hear from other individuals who took video that night. You will hear more about Joseph
Rosenbaum from his girlfriend Kariann Swart. She will tell you about his hospital stay, she will tell you
about that bag, she will tell you about what was in that bag.

You will hear about Anthony Huber. You will hear that he was a skateboarder that he lived for
skateboarding that he was at the skate park in Canoga Park all the time. That he actually knew Jacob
Blake personally, that he came out that night because he wanted to show support for his friend, Jacob
Blake. You will hear what sort of person Anthony Huber was.

You will hear from other witnesses who have been affected by that night. You will hear from law
enforcement witnesses who did a lot of investigative work to assemble all the evidence against the
defendant in this case. And you will hear from Dr. Douglas Kelley, who will testify regarding the cause
of death of Anthony Huber, the gunshot wound to the chest and you will hear that the shot that killed
Joseph Rosenbaum was a shot to the back.

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And based on all of that evidence, I think you will agree with me that the defendant is guilty of all of
these charges. Thank you

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