By Nathan Layne
KENOSHA, Wis. (Reuters) -Teenager Kyle Rittenhouse was called to testify in his own defense on Wednesday in his Wisconsin murder trial, saying under questioning by his lawyer that he was not looking for trouble on the night of the killings.
Rittenhouse, 18, is charged in the killing of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, during racial justice protests in Wisconsin in 2020. He has pleaded not guilty and has said he acted in self defense.
Dressed in a navy blue suit and dark blue tie, Rittenhouse answered questions from his attorney, Mark Richards. When Richards asked if he had come to Kenosha on that night looking for trouble, Rittenhouse said he had not.
The case is the most high-profile civilian U.S. self-defense trial since George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Florida in 2013.
Like Zimmerman, Rittenhouse has emerged as a divisive figure and politics has coursed through the case. He is a hero to some conservatives who believe in unfettered gun rights and see the shootings as justified during the chaos in Kenosha, while many on the left see him as a symbol of a gun culture run amok.
During five days of testimony, prosecutors have tried to paint Rittenhouse as a vigilante killer who used deadly force without justification. He was 17 at the time of the shootings and has been charged with underage possession of his gun.
(Reporting by Nathan Lane; Editing by Will Dunham)
