Process to send Antioch teen charged with murder across Wisconsin border begins Friday morning

Before Kyle Rittenhouse can face charges that accuse him of fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during a protest Tuesday night in Kenosha, Wisconsin officials will need permission to bring him across the state line.

That process begins at an extradition status hearing Friday morning when the 17-year-old Antioch man will appear virtually before a Lake County judge on the issue of whether another state can collect an Illinois resident accused of a crime.

Rittenhouse, who lives in Antioch, was taken into custody in the village on an arrest warrant issued Wednesday morning by Kenosha County authorities charging him with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.

He is held on no bond at the Hulse Juvenile Justice Center near Vernon Hills.

Whether his transfer to Wisconsin takes place relatively quickly or plays out over several weeks depends on what happens Friday, according to Lee Filas, communications manager with the Lake County state's attorney's office.

Rittenhouse's lawyers could:

• Waive his right to an extradition hearing, at which point Wisconsin law enforcement officers would have the authority to drive to Waukegan, take Rittenhouse into custody and transfer him to Kenosha County to face the charges, Filas said.

• Request more time from the judge to prepare for the extradition status hearing. If granted, Filas said, Lake County authorities can hold Rittenhouse for up to 30 days while that happens.

• Elect to have an extradition hearing before a judge. However, that hearing wouldn't happen right away. The state's attorney's office may request up to 60 days to prepare, Filas said. Their preparations would include obtaining a Governor's Warrant from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers that he would first send to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Lake County prosecutors would present the warrant to the judge at the extradition hearing and the judge would make a ruling, Filas said.

The status hearing will be conducted on the Zoom platform at 9 a.m. Friday. The hearing will be streamed live for the public on the YouTube page for courtroom T110. Video of the hearing will be deleted once the proceedings are concluded.