Closing arguments in the Kenosha shooter case will begin Monday after Judge Bruce Schroeder instructs the jury on the law and how they are to apply it on each charge.
The details of those charges will be finalized between the judge and attorneys for both sides today.
The jury will not be present during these proceedings when the state is expected to inform the judge if they intend to ask for lesser charges to be considered on any counts.
As it stands 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse is charged on six counts: First Degree Reckless Homicide, Use of a Dangerous Weapon in the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, First Degree Intentional Homicide, First Degree Attempted Intentional Homicide, Use of a Dangerous Weapon in the shootings of both Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz, First Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety in the case of Richie McGinniss who was all but in the line of fire when Rosenbaum was shot and 'jump-kick man' – the unidentified male at whom Rittenhouse shot twice – and one count of Possession of a Dangerous Weapon by a Person Under 18.
A seventh curfew violation was dismissed earlier in the week.
The most serious charges, first-degree intentional homicide, carries a mandatory life sentence, while attempted first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, are both punishable by up to 60 years in prison.
First-degree reckless endangerment carries a maximum prison term of 12 years and requires prosecutors to show that Rittenhouse put someone in harm's way by showing an utter disregard for life.
Closing arguments in Kyle Rittenhouse's murder trial will begin Monday
Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum (left), 36, with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle after Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse across a parking lot and threw a plastic bag at him shortly before midnight on August 25, 2020. Moments later, as Rittenhouse was running down a street, he shot and killed Anthony Huber (right), 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin
Judge Bruce Schroeder will instruct the jury on the law and how they are to apply it on each charge
Many doubt that the prosecutors have been successful in shouldering this burden of proof.
Speaking Thursday afternoon Assistant District Attorney James Kraus revealed that the state may seek possible findings of lesser charges on the homicide of Anthony Huber and attempted homicide of Gaige Grosskreutz.
But he said they were not inclined to accept a lesser finding in the case of Joseph Rosenbaum, or on the reckless endangerment charge that Rittenhouse faces with respect to Richie McGinniss.
Judge Schroeder has placed a cap of two and a half hours on closing arguments for both sides, time which is to include any rebuttal they should wish to make.
The judge had originally put a cap of one and a half hours on arguments but relented on Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger's request for more time due to the state's intention to replay as much as 30 minutes of video footage.
But he warned, 'I will be tough. I may tell you to sit down mid-sentence if you keep going. I did it to one of the DAs recently.'
The jury will not return to the courthouse until Monday when names will be drawn to determine the 12 who will actually deliberate.
Eighteen of the original 20 jurors remain after one was excused on medical grounds and another was removed having made a racial 'joke' to a court deputy.
Judge Schroeder dismissed them for the long weekend with the words, 'We're in the final stretch now.'
Kyle Rittenhouse and defense attorneys Natalie Wisco and Corey Chirafisi, talk during Rittenhouse's trial
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger brought the highest drama of Wednesday when he was accused by both Richards and Judge Schroeder of acting 'in bad faith' and attempting to provoke a mistrial
The defense rested Thursday afternoon after two and a half days of explosive testimony and high courtroom drama that may yet see the case tossed with a mistrial.
Rittenhouse's attorneys Mark Richards and Corey Chirafisi began making their case Tuesday afternoon and quickly played their biggest card – bringing Kyle Rittenhouse to the stand Wednesday morning.
Rittenhouse, 18, broke down and sobbed on the witness stand as he recounted the events of the night of August 25, 2020 when he shot dead two men and gravely wounded a third.
He said he did not want to shoot anyone that night but did so because he was 'ambushed and attacked.'
He recalled how Joseph Rosenbaum chased and lunged at him, and voiced his belief that if Rosenbaum had managed to get his gun he would have killed him and probably a lot more people that night.
He said that he shot Anthony Huber as he felt the man pulling his gun from his body and Gaige Grosskreutz because he came at him with his own firearm, a Glock 27, pointed at him.
As Rittenhouse spoke his mother Wendy wept uncontrollably in the public gallery.
On Thursday night, his mother appeared on Fox News Wendy and said she was still angry with President Biden for his labeling her son a white supremacist last year.
But it was Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger who brought the highest drama of the day when he was accused by both Richards and Judge Schroeder of acting 'in bad faith' and attempting to provoke a mistrial.
Binger was eviscerated by the judge for questioning Rittenhouse's right to remain silent after charges were brought.
He did this twice before the jury who the judge ultimately sent out before laying into the prosecutor and accusing him of a 'grave constitutional violation.'
Later Binger attempted to bring in evidence that had already
