Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged with killing two people during a protest in Kenosha, Wisc., has been placed on a $2 million bond after being deemed a flight risk.
NBC News reports that Rittenhouse appeared before a Wisconsin court via video conference on Monday after being extradited from his home state of Illinois last Friday. Rittenhouse has been charged with two counts of felony homicide and is also facing charges of felony attempted homicide, possession of a dangerous weapon while under the age of 18, and reckless endangerment, according to court records.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger requested that Court Commissioner Loren Keating set the bail so high due to how severe the charges are, and because Binger believes Rittenhouse to be a flight risk.
“There is a certainty that if the defendant is convicted, he will be sent to prison and a strong likelihood that he will serve most, if not the remainder of his life, in prison if he is convicted of these charges,” Binger said during a video of the hearing. “A substantial amount of cash bail is necessary because someone who’s facing these types of charges has the strongest possible incentive not to return to court.”
Binger noted that Rittenhouse isn’t from Wisconsin and his legal team fought against the alleged shooter being extradited. “I take that all to mean that the defendant doesn’t want to be here and if released, won’t come back,” the district attorney said in court.
The shootings occurred during protests related to the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man who was shot in the back multiple times by Kenosha police. During a confrontation with protesters, Rittenhouse allegedly shot and killed 26-year-old Anthony Huber and 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum.
From NBC News:
According to prosecutors and court documents, Rittenhouse was armed with a rifle at the protests and shot and killed Rosenbaum after Rosenbaum threw a plastic bag at Rittenhouse, missing him, and then tried to wrestle his weapon away.
While trying to get away in the immediate aftermath, Rittenhouse was heard on cellphone video saying, “I just killed somebody.” According to a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors, someone in the crowd yelled, “Beat him up!” and another yelled, “Get him.”
Video of the chaotic scene shows that Rittenhouse tripped in the street and Huber hit him with a skateboard and tried to take his rifle away. Rittenhouse opened fire, killing Huber and wounding Grosskreutz.
Mark Richards, the attorney for Rittenhouse, argued that Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense and his bond should have been set at $750,000.
I don’t know, y’all. Showing up to a protest you don’t agree with armed with an assault-style rifle sends more of an “I want to hurt you,” message as opposed to, “I just want to protect myself.”
Maybe that’s just me, though.
Before reading the bond ruling, the commissioner allowed John Huber, father of Huber, to speak. “Kyle Rittenhouse thinks he’s above the law,” Huber said. “He’s been treated as much by law enforcement. He believes he’s justified in this case. For him to run wouldn’t surprise me.” He added his son was a “hero” who died trying to protect others from Rittenhouse.
“My son was killed. Another man was killed. They didn’t deserve to be killed,” he said.