The judge presiding over Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial has dismissed a lesser charge of possession of a dangerous weapon. It was a charge the prosecution felt they had a chance of attaining a conviction for.
Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a count of illegal possession of a dangerous weapon by a person younger than 18 just moments before closing arguments began.
No one disputes that Rittenhouse was 17-years-old when he gunned down three people with an AR-style rifle in Kenosha. However, the judge cited an exception to the law that deals with hunting, the length of the barrel of the gun, and the defendant’s age.
“The reason observers correctly believed the misdemeanor gun charge was a slam dunk is because it’s not disputed that Kyle Rittenhouse was under 17 and that he possessed a gun,” said Danny Cevallos, NBC News legal analyst.
He added, “For this statute to apply, the defendant had to also violate a hunting regulation that only applied to people under 16. The defense discovered what was essentially an error in the legislation, that Kyle Rittenhouse cannot violate a law that only applies to someone under 16.”
The misdemeanor carries up to nine months in jail. Rittenhouse faces five other charges stemming from fatally shooting Anthony Huber, 26, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, last August.
Closing arguments for the trial took place on Monday, and the jury is expected to begin deliberating on Tuesday.
