Rittenhouse attorneys say they'll challenge teen's extradition to Wisconsin

Attorneys for Kyle Rittenhouse say they'll fight the Antioch teenager's extradition to Wisconsin, where he's charged as an adult with the fatal shooting of two people at a Kenosha, Wisconsin protest.

Rittenhouse, wearing a navy blue T-shirt and gray face mask, appeared in Lake County court by video conference Friday morning. He remains in the Vernon Hills juvenile detention center, where he has been in custody since Aug. 26.

Rittenhouse’s attorney, John Pierce, said he hasn’t received a copy of the Wisconsin warrant calling for Rittenhouse’s arrest on charges including first-degree intentional homicide. Any filings challenging Rittenhouse's extradition are due by Oct. 8.

“These are going to be involving issues of some complexity frankly that have not arisen in the country for some time and so there’s going to be a lot of research involved in this," Pierce said in court.

He also asked that the jail allow Rittenhouse access to a laptop to watch the “immense amount of video evidence” associated with the Aug. 25 shooting.

Lake County Judge Paul Novak granted Pierce two weeks to review the warrant and prepare his filings. The case was continued to Oct. 9. Novak is expected to set a hearing date for extradition arguments at that time.

As part of the police investigation, officers reviewed several cellphone videos that surfaced after the shooting. In one video, a male, later identified as Rittenhouse, was seen running southwest across a car dealership parking lot while holding a long gun.

The weapon, later recovered by police, was identified as a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style .223 rifle with a magazine capable of holding 30 rounds of ammunition, court records show. Pierce and another of Rittenhouse's attorneys, Lin Wood, have said the teen was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed two people at the Kenosha protest.

Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber were among the crowd of people protesting the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake.

An autopsy conducted by the Milwaukee Medical Examiner’s Office indicated Rosenbaum suffered multiple gunshot wounds. One shot was fired into his right groin and fractured his pelvis. Another shot to Rosenbaum’s back perforated his right lung and liver. He also suffered a gunshot wound to his left hand, a superficial gunshot wound to his left thigh and a graze wound to the right side of his forehead, court documents show.

Huber’s autopsy revealed a gunshot wound to his chest that perforated his heart, aorta, pulmonary artery and right lung, according to court records.

Although Rittenhouse remains in juvenile detention in Illinois, the teenager is considered an adult in Wisconsin courts. The most serious charge, first-degree intentional homicide, is punishable by life in prison. Rittenhouse also is charged with possessing a dangerous weapon as a person younger than 18 years old.

On Friday, a handful of protesters gathered outside the Waukegan courthouse, the Daily Herald reported. Among them was Clyde McLemore, the Zion man who founded the Lake County chapter of Black Lives Matter. McLemore told Daily Herald reporter Doug Graham that he led a protest in Kenosha hours before the shootings and spoke with Rittenhouse that day.

"I asked Kyle to come protest with us as he was standing there with his AR-15," McLemore told the Daily Herald. "He said, 'No, I'm here protecting buildings.' I asked him if he'd rather protect brick and mortar over human life and he said 'yes' and we got into a confrontation."

McLemore expressed disappointment that Rittenhouse remains in Illinois, the Daily Herald reported.

In addition to the criminal case against Rittenhouse, the Aug. 25 shooting is the subject of a federal lawsuit. A 39-page civil complaint filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Wisconsin alleges negligence, civil conspiracy, and infliction of emotional distress in connection with the shooting.

The lawsuit specifically accuses Facebook of ignoring hundreds of reports about a Wisconsin-based militia that attended the protest and who the complainants' attorneys say Rittenhouse met up with when he arrived.