by Stephanie Pagones at Fox News
The Wisconsin jury that will decide whether or not to convict accused Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse may be allowed to consider lesser charges in addition to those prosecutors originally brought against him.
Arguments over what would be included in jury instructions were contentious at times, with attorneys rehashing debates they had earlier in the trial or in pretrial hearings. At one point, as the two sides debated what a particular photo showed, Judge Bruce Schroeder lost his temper, shouting, “You’re asking me to give an instruction. I want to see the best picture!”
Rittenhouse was 17 when he fatally shot two protesters and wounded a third in August 2020 during a chaotic night of protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Monday in the case that has left Americans divided.
Prosecutors have argued that Rittenhouse, who was armed with an AR-15 on the night of the shootings, instigated the bloodshed. Defense attorneys have argued that Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense.
Rittenhouse is charged with several counts, including homicide and attempted homicide, in the killings of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz. Wisconsin law allows the prosecution and defense to ask that jurors be told they can consider lesser charges as part of the instructions they receive before deliberations.
With many legal observers saying prosecutors struggled to poke holes in Rittenhouse’s self-defense claims, Schroeder’s decisions on what he will allow in terms of lesser charges could be significant…
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