A jury has found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts in his murder trial connected to the shootings of three people during unrest in Kenosha during the summer of 2020.
NOTE: NBC Chicago will provide a live feed from the courtroom as available throughout the trial. Watch live in the player above.
BREAKING: A jury has found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts in his murder trial connected to the shootings of three people during unrest in Kenosha during the summer of 2020. Details here.
_________________________________________________________________________
Jurors in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial announced their verdict midway through a fourth day of deliberations Friday, finding Rittenhouse not guilty in connection with a deadly shooting during unrest in Kenosha.
Rittenhouse faced five counts in the case, after an illegal weapons charge was dismissed by Schroeder.
Rittenhouse, now 18, was in Kenosha with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to protect property from the damaging demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer last summer.
While Rittenhouse is white, as were those he shot, the case has stirred debate over vigilantism, the right to bear arms and the unrest that erupted around the U.S. that summer over the killing of George Floyd and the shooting of Blake.
Rittenhouse testified during the trial that he acted in self-defense. Wisconsin’s self-defense law allows someone to use deadly force only if “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm,” and the jury was tasked with deciding whether Rittenhouse believed he was in such peril, and whether that belief was reasonable under the circumstances.
Here are the latest updates from the courthouse (this will be updated as court resumes Friday):
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
-- A jury has found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts in his murder trial connected to the shootings of three people during unrest in Kenosha during the summer of 2020.
-- The jury is expected to soon begin reading the verdict.
-- BREAKING: A verdict has been reached in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, the judge announced Friday following several days of jury deliberation.
-- The jury at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial began deliberating for a fourth day Friday, as prosecutors argued against a defense request for a mistrial, saying there was “no factual or legal basis” for the judge to grant it.
-- Before the jurors retired around 4 p.m. at what the judge said was their own request, one of them asked if she could take the jury instructions home, and the judge said yes but told her she couldn't talk to anyone about them.
After the jury departed, Rittenhouse attorney Mark Richards told the judge he feared that letting members take home instructions would lead to jurors looking things up in the dictionary or doing their own research.
-- At the end of the day, jurors looked tired, but no more than they did at the end of their first day. No one seemed visibly upset. Two jurors spoke genially to each other as they walked out the door.
-The jury was sent home for the day at approximately 4 p.m., according to reporters in the courtroom.
-- Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth seen handing out cookies and coffee "for peace" outside the courthouse.
"The goal is to show everybody we're on the same page," he said. "People are going to be voicing their opinion but we're here to do it together, we're here to do it hopefully peacefully."
-- Police are investigating after a person claiming to be affiliated with a national media outlet was suspected of trying to photograph jurors in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial Wednesday night. Judge Bruce Schroeder addressed the news in the courtroom, calling it a "very serious matter." Read more details on what happened here.
-- For a complete look at the questions the jury have asked so far, here's a breakdown.
More Coverage of the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
