Prosecutors: Public Should Know Where Kyle Rittenhouse Lives

Kenosha, WI – Prosecutors in Wisconsin said on Thursday that the public had a right to know exactly where 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was living while he awaits trial for fatally shooting two men during the Jacob Blake riots.

Mark Richards, an attorney for Rittenhouse, has said that the defense doesn’t want the address of where Rittenhouse and his family were currently living to be public because the teen has received death threats, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

But Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger argued there’s no precedent for hiding the defendant’s address in response to the defense attorney’s objections.

Binger also claimed there was a strong reason for the public to know exactly where Rittenhouse was, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

“He is, after all, charged with murdering two people and severely injuring a third,” the prosecutor wrote in his response.

Binger said it was “completely unacceptable” that victims, their families, and witnessed could live nearby Rittenhouse without knowing it, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

He claimed that Rittenhouse has acted “like he is the only one negatively affected by the attention he has brought upon himself, and thus he should be exempt from the rules that apply to everyone else.”

Rittenhouse is facing five felony charges including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, and a misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor, WEAR reported.

He is facing life in prison if he is convicted.

Prosecutors filed a motion with the court on Feb. 3 that said they had been unable to deliver a hearing notice to Rittenhouse because he no longer lived at the address he had listed on his release paperwork, WISN reported.

The notice was returned with a note that the addressee did not reside at that address.

So detectives were sent to Rittenhouse’s address to deliver the notice, according to the motion filed with the court.

The man who lived at the address told detectives that he had moved in on Dec. 15, 2020 and Rittenhouse had moved out before then, WISN reported.

Prosecutors said that when Rittenhouse signed a document with the court on Jan. 22, he failed to update his address.

The conditions of Rittenhouse’s release required that he notify the District Attorney’s Office within 48 hours if he moved, WISN reported.

Prosecutors asked the judge to issue a warrant for the 18 year old’s arrest.

They also asked the judge to raise Rittenhouse’s bail by $200,000, WISN reported.

The Illinois teen is currently living in Racine to assist his attorneys in preparing his defense and the address change Rittenhouse failed to make dated back to that move.

Richards filed an objection with the court on Thursday and said his client was enduring ongoing threats, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The defense attorney offered to file Rittenhouse’s current address with the judge, under seal, or use a post office box address for the official listing.

The prosecutor said in his response that if Rittenhouse and his mother were really being threatened, they had exposed the new tenants at their old address to potential danger from vigilantes who believed they still lived there, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

“In essence, he put someone else in jeopardy to protect his own skin,” Binger wrote.

He questioned whether there had actually been any legitimate threats to Rittenhouse’s safety, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

This was not the first time prosecutors have accused Rittenhouse of violating the terms of his release.

Kenosha prosecutors strongly objected to Rittenhouse’s release on bail to begin with and complained that the $2 million raised to cover the cash bail requirement came from supporters and celebrities, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Prosecutors filed a motion on Jan. 13 that complained Rittenhouse had gone to a bar with his parents and hung out with Proud Boys after his arraignment on Jan. 5, the Chicago Tribune reported.

So the District Attorney’s Office asked the judge to prohibit Rittenhouse from “publicly displaying symbols and gestures that are associated with violent white supremacist groups and from associating with known members of those groups, particularly the Proud Boys.”