Kyle Rittenhouse trial verdict - live: Protests ramp up outside court as jury deliberates

As the Kyle Rittenhouse trial winds down, all eyes are on the jurors who will to determine the teen’s fate on multiple charges this week in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The case hangs on whether Mr Rittenhouse was the instigator on the night of the violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or a concerned citizen who came under attack while trying to protect property.

Mr Rittenhouse faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges against him, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree attempted intentional homicide.

The Kenosha County Sheriff released a statement about ‘verdict preparedness’, saying the trial is being closely monitored because “We recognize that some varying opinions and feelings revolve around the trial that may cause concerns.”

ICYMI: A defence lawyer angrily accused the prosecution at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial of lying. The lead prosecutor struck a measured tone, even as he raised the accused’s rifle at one point and sighted at a courtroom wall.

How the indignation and theatrics during Monday’s closing arguments played with jurors won’t be clear until 12 of them return with verdicts in a case that underscores American divisions on issues of guns, protests and policing.

The Associated Press looks at how some five hours of closings went and which side may have made the stronger argument to jurors:

ICYMI: A jury is deliberating on the verdict in the double homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men and injured another in the aftermath of protests against police violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year, and will consider a range of charges against him.

Throughout the two-week trial, jurors reviewed more than a dozen pieces of video, including livestreams from that night, an interview Mr Rittenhouse gave moments before he fired his gun, body camera footage, and aerial video from the FBI.

Alex Woodward has the story.

The rally against injustice that took place that night was organised in solidarity with a local Black man, Jacob Blake, who had been shot and left paralysed by a white police officer two days earlier following a confrontation after his SUV was stopped.

Joe Sommerlad has more.

ICYMI: Attorneys for Kyle Kyle Rittenhouse criticised the prosecution’s “rush to judgment” to press homicide charges in the aftermath of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020, as the teenager’s defence team delivered closing arguments in the closely watched trial.

Mark Richards dismissed prosecutors’ argument that Mr Rittenhouse – who was 17 years old when he fatally shot two men and injured another with an AR-15-style rifle as protests against police violence dispersed on 25 August 2020 – had provoked the shootings, after Assistant District Attorney Mark Binger described the shooter as a “chaos tourist” who inserted himself into a volatile scene that night.

Alex Woodward has the story.

Judge Schroeder retired the jury at around 5.45pm CT, after a full first day of deliberations.

They have been told to report back to the courthouse on Wednesday morning to resume deliberations at 9am.

Judge Schroeder had asked the jury if they wanted to continue working into the evening or come back and start again on Wednesday morning.

Judge Schroeder killed time by playing Jeopardy! with people in the courtroom as the jury in the case continues its deliberations.

Judge Bruce Schroeder will ask jurors at 5pm CT to see if they want to keep going in their deliberations this evening, or go home for the night, according to Fox News.

The jury, which consists of seven women and five men, began their deliberations at around 9.30am.

The Independent’s Megan Sheets looks back at the stand-out moments from the trial: