EXPLAINER: Why did judge drop Rittenhouse gun charge?

By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — On the surface, it looked like prosecutors would convict Kyle Rittenhouse on at least one charge in his murder trial — being a minor in possession of a firearm. Rittenhouse was 17 when he shot three people during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year. No one contested that Rittenhouse was underage with a gun. But defense experts had seized on a subject of the state’s law to argue that it was limited to short-barreled shotguns or rifles. Judge Bruce Schroeder had rejected their argument twice before, but had also said the statute was poorly written — and he threw it out just hours before the case went to the jury. Legal experts say prosecutors should have anticipated the move and done more to prove the count was valid.