"This is over. The prosecution cannot appeal. A not guilty verdict is final. So this will be the end of the state prosecution of Kyle Rittenhouse," CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said.
Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all five charges against him by a jury on Friday. He was accused of homicide and other charges in the killing of two people and the shooting of another during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last summer. Rittenhouse had claimed he acted in self-defense.
Upon hearing the verdict, Rittenhouse, 18, cried, fell to the floor and then hugged one of his attorneys in the Kenosha County Circuit court, the Associated Press reported.
A 12-person jury deliberated for more than 25 hours over the course of four days, CNN reported.
"This is over. The prosecution cannot appeal. A not guilty verdict is final. So this will be the end of the state prosecution of Kyle Rittenhouse," CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said..
Judge Bruce Schroeder told the jurors that he "couldn't have asked for a better jury to work with" during the three-week trial, according to CNN.
"I think without commenting on your verdict... the verdict themselves, just in terms of your attentiveness and the cooperation that you gave to us justifies the confidence that the founders of our country placed in you," Schroeder said.
Rittenhouse, from nearby Antioch, Illinois, was charged with reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, on Aug. 25, 2020, during protests over the shooting death of Jacob Blake, a Black man who had been shot by a white Kenosha police officer, NBC News reported.
Rittenhouse would have faced a mandatory life sentence if found guilty and convicted of first-degree intentional homicide. The verdict came on the 15th day of the trial, FOX News reported.
