KENOSHA — Court TV's "Chaos in Kenosha: The Kyle Rittenhouse Case" aired for the first time last night. The documentary takes a look back at the events of August 25th, 2020 and looks ahead to the jury trial beginning in just one week on November 1st.
Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two of them, during the unrest in Kenosha last summer following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse faces seven charges in Kenosha County, including one count of first degree homicide which carries a life sentence in Wisconsin if convicted.
"You're going to see the defense in many instances throughout this trial go back to the issue that he was a 17 year old boy at the time of this and you cannot judge his actions after the fact," said Joe Tamburino, a featured Criminal Defense Attorney in the documentary.
Rittenhouse has maintained that he acted in self-defense. The Court TV documentary emphasizes that it will be up to Rittenhouse himself to convince the jury that his actions were in fact taken in self-defense.
"It is without a debate, judge, all three of these people were chasing Kyle Rittenhouse. All of them. That is not debatable," said one of Rittenhouse's attorneys during a pre-trail hearing shown in the documentary.
On the other side, the prosecutors have indicated they plan to try to prove Rittenhouse's intent behind bringing a gun to Kenosha.
"This is going to be tough. I have never in the history of covering cases here thought the most likely verdict here is a hung jury," said Court TV Lead Anchor Vinnie Politan. "I've seen the way America has reacted to this and I'm wondering if the 12 jurors in Kenosha will act the same way."
Court TV will be re-airing the documentary Sunday at 9pm. For information on how to watch, click here.