EXPLAINER: Did state’s own witnesses hurt Rittenhouse case?

By MICHAEL TARM
AP Legal Affairs Writer

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have concluded testimony at Kyle Rittenhouse’s homicide trial after calling more than a dozen witnesses, some of whom appeared to help the defense more than the prosecution. They rested Tuesday. The onus was on prosecutors to counter Rittenhouse’s claim to have acted in self-defense when he shot dead two men and wounded a third in Kenosha last year. Legal experts agreed prosecutors had the bigger challenge going in, and some said they didn’t think prosecutors came close to offering the kind of testimony to convince jurors. But trying to guess how jurors are perceiving evidence is hazardous in any case, and perhaps more so in one as novel and politically charged as Rittenhouse’s.