Rittenhouse To Fight Extradition To Wisconsin Where He Faces Homicide Charges In Protest Shooting

Rittenhouse, 17, is being held in a juvenile detention facility in Illinois but was charged with homicide as an adult in Wisconsin after he allegedly shot three people — killing two — as armed militia members in Kenosha faced off against crowds who were protesting a police shooting days earlier that left a Black man partially paralyzed.

Pierce told Forbes earlier he plans to raise issues of self-defense and also that Rittenhouse, at age 17, was entitled through the Constitution to be part of a “well-regulated militia” and have possession of the Smith & Wesson AR-15 style .223 rifle that forms the basis of a weapons possession charge, a misdemeanor, that Rittenhouse is also facing.

Pierce did not raise those issues Friday but, when the judge asked to set the next hearing date, Pierce responded: “These are going to be involving issues of some complexity that frankly have not arisen in the country for some time, so there’s going to be a lot of legal research involved in this,” adding: “I’d like to have 30 days but we’ll take whatever we can get.”

Rittenhouse did not speak during the brief Zoom hearing, and sat almost motionless wearing a dark grey sweatshirt and a light grey mask.

The judge allowed Pierce until October 9 to file initial paper work for his “habeas corpus” motion which will begin what could be a protracted legal battle.

Video widely circulated on social media shows the gunfire that erupted during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, then shows Rittenhouse walking with his hand up toward law enforcement officers from several jurisdictions, who do not take him into custody, allowing him to return to his home in Illinois, setting the stage for the extradition case.