Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, faces five felonies for shooting three people, two fatally, during Kenosha’s civil unrest in August 2020. Judge Bruce Schroeder has allowed the panel to consider offenses less serious for two of the five charges but only if jurors opt to acquit the defendant of the more serious corresponding charge. The judge also approved the prosecution’s request for a provocation instruction. Such an instruction would ask the jury to consider whether the defendant provoked the confrontation. If the jury agrees, it could weaken Rittenhouse’s self-defense claim.
