A judge presiding over the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Monday dismissed one charge of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under the age of 18. Rittenhouse is most likely to be convicted.
Rittenhouse was 17 when he killed two and wounded one while carrying an AR-style semi-automatic rifle on the streets of Kenosha during a violent protest against racial injustice in the summer of 2020. Because Wisconsin law does not allow the sale of firearms to anyone under the age of 18, Rittenhouse paid his friend to purchase the gun instead.
Wisconsin law also generally prohibits minors from possessing firearms. But while Rittenhouse wasn't a minor at the time of the Kenosha protests, defense counsel argued that the teenager could be acquitted under the rifle-related hunting waiver in question. On Monday, prosecutors urged Judge Bruce Schroeder to let the jury bring the gun charge, but ultimately Schroeder dismissed the charge, acknowledging that Rittenhouse's rifle was not a short barrel.
The judge then brought the jury into the courtroom and explained the rest of the self-defense law in a lengthy and sometimes confusing way. Rittenhouse, now 18, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of felonies, including first degree intentional murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.