18-year-old Kyle Ritenhaus, who was acquitted of killing two people during anti-racism protests in 2020 in the US, justified his actions by saying that legal defense “is not illegal”, in an interview with Fox News, his favorite Trump and the Conservatives, where he appears relieved after the verdict that has divided the United States.
“The jurors made the right decision: legal violence is not illegal (…) It was a difficult path, but we did it. We did the most difficult,” he said, according to an excerpt that preceded the broadcast of the entire interview on Monday. The 18-year-old appears to be sitting smiling in the car that took him from the court after the announcement of the decision. In another excerpt he talks about the nightmares he says he suffers from today.
Kyle Rittenhaus killed two men, aged 26 and 38, and wounded a third on August 23, 2020 in Kenosa, Wisconsin, with a semi-automatic rifle he had equipped to go out with armed groups to “protect” stores during demonstrations against racism and police violence.
Throughout the trial, which once again brought to the fore the American split over gun ownership and the Black Lives Matter movement, the young man, who became a favorite of American right-wing circles, insisted he was in a legitimate defense.
But for advocates of more effective gun control, it embodies the abuse of the right to legal defense.
The announcement of the court ruling sparked local protests in New York, Chicago and Portland, Oregon, where clashes broke out with police. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
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