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Jury Finds Rittenhouse Not Guilty on All Charges, Sandmann Calls for Him to Sue Left-Wing News: 'Hold the Media Accountable'

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Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges Friday after pleading self-defense in the Kenosha, Wisconsin, shootings that captured national attention in a debate over guns and racial justice.

Rittenhouse, 18, cried and hugged one of his attorneys upon hearing the verdict.

He had been charged with homicide, attempted homicide, and reckless endangering after killing two men and wounding a third with a semi-automatic rifle after they came after him. It all took place as he took to the streets to oppose the violent, lawless rioting that had destroyed businesses during protests over police violence against black people in the summer of 2020. 


A flag flies over a department of corrections building ablaze during protests on Aug. 24, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

The jury deliberated for nearly 3 1/2 days. In the end, Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges, including first-degree intentional homicide which could have led to life in prison. 

Rittenhouse was 17 when he went from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha after businesses in the city were ransacked and burned after a white police officer shot and injured a black man named Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse joined other armed citizens in what he said was an effort to protect property and provide medical aid.

Bystander and drone video captured most of the frenzied chain of events that followed. Rittenhouse says he was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed two white men, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, as they came after him. He also wounded an armed demonstrator Gaige Grosskreutz, now 28, who testified he was shot after he pointed his pistol at the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse. 

Prosecutors portrayed Rittenhouse as a “wannabe soldier” who had gone looking for trouble that night, saying he created a dangerous situation in the first place by pointing his rifle at demonstrators.

But Rittenhouse testified: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself.”

While some Americans condemned Rittenhouse as a vigilante, some hailed him as a hero who exercised his Second Amendment gun rights and tried to put a stop to lawlessness.

The video and testimony from some of the prosecution’s own witnesses seemed to support Rittenhouse’s claim of self-defense, and the jury certainly agreed by finding him innocent on all counts.

A videographer testified Rosenbaum lunged for Rittenhouse's rifle just before he was shot, and a pathologist said his injuries appeared to indicate his hand was over the barrel. Also, Rosenbaum’s fiancee disclosed that he was on medication for bipolar disorder and depression.  

Time to Sue the 'Liberal Media Outlets' Who Trashed Him?

Now that he's been acquitted, some legal experts are wondering if Rittenhouse will sue certain left-wing media outlets over their coverage of the trial.  

Former Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann, who settled a huge defamation lawsuit against CNN in January of 2020, wrote an op-ed for The Daily Mail in which he told Rittenhouse to "hold the media accountable."

"The parallels between me and Kyle Rittenhouse are impossible not to draw," Sandmann wrote. "Kyle was almost immediately labeled a 'white supremacist' and a 'domestic terrorist'. To many, my red MAGA hat clearly meant that I was a racist."

"Kyle wasn't given his day in court by his critics. And neither was I," he continued. "The attacks on Kyle came from the national news media, just as they came for me. They came quickly, without hesitation, because Kyle was an easy target that they could paint in the way they wanted to."

"This is the problem with liberal media outlets in the United States," Sandmann noted. "They want to get the story first, get the most views, make the most money, and advance the agenda from liberal patrons."

"In our hyperpolarized society, the first impression of Kyle has been set in stone, probably for the rest of his life," the former Covington High School student explained. 

"So to President Joe Biden, Lebron James, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, and every other commentator: please be quiet," Sandmann wrote.

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About The Author

Steve Warren is a senior multimedia producer for CBN News. Warren has worked in the news departments of television stations and cable networks across the country. In addition, he also worked as a producer-director in television production and on-air promotion. A Civil War historian, he authored the book The Second Battle of Cabin Creek: Brilliant Victory. It was the companion book to the television documentary titled Last Raid at Cabin Creek currently streaming on Amazon Prime. He holds an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma and a B.A. in Communication from the University of