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Kyle Rittenhouse verdict: Defense attorney Mark Richards offers reaction

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The jury needed more than 24 hours to reach a verdict, and Mark Richards says it was the longest deliberation of his career.

Kyle Rittenhouse walked out of the Kenosha County Circuit Court on Friday, November 19, 2021, cleared of all five felony counts, including first-degree reckless homicide, intentional homicide, and attempted homicide. Moments after the verdict was read, lead defense attorney Mark Richards stood before cameras to explain how the case was won and what comes next for his 18-year-old client. His comments, delivered alongside co-counsel Corey Chirafisi, offered the clearest window yet into the defense’s strategy and the toll the trial took on everyone involved.

• The jury deliberated for more than 24 hours across three and a half days, which Richards called “the longest jury I’ve had out” in his career.
• Richards revealed the defense tested Rittenhouse’s decision to testify using mock juries before concluding it was “not a close call.”
• He criticized Rittenhouse’s early former attorneys, Lin Wood and John Pierce, saying they tried to “use Kyle for a cause” instead of defending an individual client.

A Case Built Strictly on Self-Defense

Richards was firm that the defense never strayed into broader political territory during the trial over the August 25, 2020, shootings in Kenosha, which left Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber dead and Gaige Grosskreutz wounded. He said the entire case rested on Wisconsin’s self-defense statute, not on Second Amendment arguments or any larger cause. That framing, he explained, is exactly why he distanced himself so publicly from Wood and Pierce, the attorneys who represented Rittenhouse before Richards and Chirafisi took over.

They were trying to use Kyle for a cause. He’s not a cause. He’s a boy who was in trouble.

The controversy surrounding Rittenhouse’s early legal team echoes a pattern seen in other high-profile cases where outside voices try to attach themselves to a defendant’s story. It’s the kind of dynamic that has fueled plenty of controversial moments in 2021 that dominated headlines well beyond the courtroom.

Rittenhouse Testimony Motives Explained

Richards said putting Rittenhouse on the witness stand was “not a close call” once the defense ran mock juries to test both scenarios. The results, he said, consistently favored letting Rittenhouse tell his own version of events rather than relying solely on video evidence and cross-examination. That decision put the teenager directly in front of jurors describing the chaos on the streets of Kenosha the night Rosenbaum and Huber were killed and Grosskreutz was shot.

Richards also addressed the atmosphere inside the courtroom under Judge Bruce Schroeder, who presided over one of the most closely watched trials in recent memory. He said Schroeder ran a fair proceeding for a defendant facing charges that carried a potential life sentence, even as tensions outside the courthouse in Kenosha remained high throughout the trial.

The Verdict and What Comes Next

When the verdicts were read, Rittenhouse collapsed in tears at the defense table before leaving the courthouse with his family. Richards described his client as experiencing immense relief once the ordeal ended, but he made clear the case has left a lasting mark. Rittenhouse plans to relocate for safety reasons and hopes to move forward with a career in nursing, according to Richards.

The scrutiny Rittenhouse faced throughout the trial, and the way his legal team managed it, is a reminder of how quickly a defendant’s personal story can get swallowed by outside noise, the same dynamic that has derailed careers and reputations covered in pieces like the biggest celebrity prison sentences that were cut short.

Richards didn’t offer a timeline for where Rittenhouse relocates or when the nursing plans might start, only that the immediate priority is getting his client away from the spotlight that’s followed him since that night in Kenosha. For now, the case that took three and a half days for a jury to decide is closed, and Richards says his client just wants to disappear for a while.