Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year old from Illinois accused of killing two rioters while he was protecting private businesses from destruction in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been extradited to face trial for homicide charges, with Illinois authorities handing him over to their counterparts in Wisconsin shortly after a judge on Friday approved the contested extradition.
In his ruling that rejected the bid from the defense team that Rittenhouse remain in Illinois, Judge Paul Novak noted that the boy’s lawyers characterized the Wisconsin charges as politically motivated.
“This Illinois court shall not examine any potential political impact a Wisconsin District Attorney potentially considered in his charging decision,” said the judge in his six-page ruling, adding that it is not up to him to “reevaluate probable cause determined by a Wisconsin court.”
Immediately after Novak issued the ruling at the courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois, Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies drove Rittenhouse five miles to the Illinois-Wisconsin border, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Christopher Covelli. At that point, the teenager was turned over to Kenosha County sheriff deputies at the state line.
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The decision came after Novak spent Friday morning hearing arguments for and against extradition.
AP notes:
In his ruling, Novak said an extradition to another state can be halted only under several clear conditions, including if the extradition papers aren’t in order, if a suspect hasn’t yet been charged or if the identity of the suspect is in doubt. He said none of those conditions applied.
Without witnesses from either side, the part of Friday’s hearing meant for evidence and testimony lasted less than 30 seconds, when Scheller handed the judge Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signed warrant calling for Rittenhouse’s extradition.
[Rittenhouse lawyer John] Pierce told Novak that Wisconsin authorities were required by law to present charging documents to a magistrate judge and that their failure to do so rendered their extradition request invalid.
But Novak dismissed that argument, stating in his ruling that Rittenhouse’s lawyers provided no evidence that the magistrate did not review the charges.
“Even if this court were to find the complaint [was] not made before a magistrate … Rittenhouse’s argument would still fail,” he wrote. The warrant signed by Pritzker, he said, “satisfies all the requirements.”
The most serious charge against Rittenhouse is first-degree intentional homicide, which in Wisconsin carries a life prison sentence. The 17-year-old is also charged with attempted intentional homicide in the wounding of a third rioter who was wounded but did not die. Additionally, Rittenhouse faces a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession. His lawyers, however, assert he was acting in self-defense.
Indeed, one of the men Rittenhouse killed, Anthony Huber, attacked the young man with a skateboard. Huber was a repeat domestic abuser convicted of strangling someone. The other man who died, Joseph Rosebaum, was a sex offender. He chased Rittenhouse down and then attacked him.
The man who survived, Gaige Grosskreutz, was seen brandishing a firearm at the time of the incident. The fact that the men attacked him as he was trying to run away is caught on tape. Despite video that clearly shows him defending himself, and despite a criminal complaint that explains in detail what occurred and validates his claim of self defense, hard leftists say Rittenhouse is guilty of “murder.”
A day after the shooting, Rittenhouse surrendered to police in his Illinois town of Antioch. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing an arrest report it went to court to obtain after its public records request was denied, reported Friday that Rittenhouse turned himself in within two hours after the shooting and told an officer he had “ended a man’s life.”
Per the report, firefighters were called when Rittenhouse — described as alternating between calm, fits of crying and vomiting — had trouble breathing. The outlet also wrote that Rittenhouse told police the rifle used in the shooting was in the trunk of a friend’s vehicle.
With Election Day right around the corner, Americans are asking themselves if the nation’s cities, particularly Democrat-controlled ones, won’t erupt in riots. Already, well-funded leftist groups are calling for mass street uprisings and even shutting down Washington, D.C. in order to pressure President Trump from declaring himself the victor after November 3. In such an atmosphere, it remains unclear whether either presidential candidate will concede the race without a lengthy legal battle.
