Kyle Rittenhouse's trial starts Monday: Here's what you need to know

The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse - the 18-year-old from Antioch accused of killing two people and injuring another at a Kenosha protest against police brutality last year - begins Monday with jury selection.

Rittenhouse faces life in prison if convicted of either of the two homicide charges against him stemming from the Aug. 25, 2020, deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber. He also is charged with attempted homicide, two counts of endangering safety and illegal possession of a firearm.

Here is a look at the high-profile case and those involved.

What brought teen to Kenosha?

Rittenhouse, then 17, was among the people who responded to calls on social media to travel to Kenosha bearing weapons to protect the city and its businesses during protests after the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer, authorities said.

Blake was shot in the back seven times on Aug. 23. Rittenhouse and all three men he is accused of shooting are white.

Rittenhouse, a fervent law enforcement supporter, was a youth cadet in the Grayslake Police Department and posted photos of himself carrying guns with the caption "Blue Lives Matter."

He told a reporter from the Daily Caller about 15 minutes before he would begin shooting that he was there to help.

"People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business," Rittenhouse said. "If there is somebody hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle."

The rifle Rittenhouse used was a Smith & Wesson M&P 15, an assault-style rifle he had a friend buy for him, authorities said.

Wisconsin law permits people 18 years and older to carry guns in public without a license if the gun is visible, but Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the shooting.

Those killed

The first to be shot was Rosenbaum, 36, who traveled to Kenosha from a Milwaukee hospital where he had been treated for a suicide attempt. It's not clear why he was in Kenosha the night of the protests, though his fiancee lived in the city, according to news reports.

According to a New York Times analysis of the events that led to the shooting, Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse in a parking lot and threw a plastic bag that held his belongings from the hospital. Shortly after, an unknown man fired a gun in the air and Rosenbaum lunged at Rittenhouse, who reportedly fired at Rosenbaum four times, according to news accounts.

After fleeing the scene, Rittenhouse tripped and fell and was confronted by Huber, 26, who - according to news reports - struck Rittenhouse with a skateboard in an attempt to disarm him. While the two men grappled for control of the rifle, Rittenhouse shot Huber in the chest, the reports said.

Gaige Grosskreutz, a 26-year-old paramedic, was shot next. Grosskreutz later told reporters he went to the protest to treat people with injuries and came armed with a handgun. Rittenhouse is accused of shooting him in the arm after Grosskreutz approached him with his handgun drawn.

Rittenhouse's defense

Rittenhouse's legal team, led by Racine attorney Mark Richards, is expected to argue that the teen fired in self-defense. According to an Associated Press analysis, Wisconsin legal experts say Rittenhouse has a strong case. In pretrial statements, Rittenhouse's attorneys said he went to Kenosha to protect businesses from damage and looting, not to hurt anyone.

State's case

In statements made before the trial, prosecutors have said Rittenhouse "was the aggressor, there with the intent to violently clash with those opposed to his beliefs."

The presiding judge has barred the state, led by Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, from discussing some evidence with the jury that may have illustrated violent intentions. One was a video, around two weeks before the shootings, of Rittenhouse watching some men exit a CVS pharmacy and saying that he wished he had his rifle so he could shoot them because he thought they were shoplifters.

The judge also barred prosecutors from connecting Rittenhouse to the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, though Rittenhouse posed for photographs with members of the group in January.

The judge

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder will preside over the trial. Schroeder made news recently by forbidding attorneys from referring to Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz as victims - a long-standing practice in his courtroom. He also ruled that defense attorneys could portray the three as looters, arsonists or rioters, if they could prove it.

Schroeder, 75, has been on the bench since 1983 and has a reputation for doling out tough sentences. In 2018, he sentenced a woman convicted of shoplifting to tell the managers of any store she entered that she was on supervision for theft. Schroeder told the woman that "embarrassment does have a valuable place in deterring criminality." The sentence was thrown out on appeal.

• The Associated Press contributed to this report.