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The attorney who represented Kyle Rittenhouse said he can’t use his own cell phone because he has received so many death threats.
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He spoke with Insider from his wife’s phone, which has also been targeted by individuals making death threats, he said.
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Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges Friday related to his shooting of three people during a protest last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Mark Richards, Kyle Rittenhouse’s criminal defense attorney, told Insider that he has received so many death threats that he was no longer using his own cellphone.
Richards said that he “can’t count” the number of death threats he’s received recently. “It’s too high,” he added.
The attorney has since taken to using his wife’s cellphone, which he used to speak to Insider, but added that her number has also been targeted by people making death threats.
Richards said: “I would love for things to change, for people to talk to one another without fighting, but, unfortunately, I don’t see it changing it any time soon.”
A jury on Friday acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges relating to the August 25, 2020, incident where he shot three people with an AR-15 style semiautomatic file, killing two and injuring the other, during protests against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse had been charged with fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz and was also charged with recklessly endangering two other men.
The protests in Kenosha followed the caught-on-camera police shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23, 2020.
Rittenhouse’s defense team, which was led by Richards, argued the teen acted in self-defense during the incident and only fired his weapon because he believed he was under attack, as Insider previously reported.
The jury’s Friday verdict came after nearly 26 hours of deliberations over four days, as Insider reported.
At first, Richards said he could “fluff off” the threatening calls, which began around three weeks ago.” But, he continued, the intensity of these calls increased after Rittenhouse’s acquittal Friday.
“By the time I left the courthouse yesterday and started answering my phone, the first three calls were death threats, and I just quit answering my phone,” Richards said.
“I’m going through my emails, there are threatening emails too,” Richards added.
Read the original article on Insider
