Journalists hire armed guards and police try to ease ‘anxiety’ as jury deliberations continue
- BLM protesters were met with resistance from Rittenhouse supporters on the courthouse steps on Tuesday
- Rittenhouse, 18, has won a swell of support from Second Amendment enthusiasts and Republicans
- He says he was protecting the town of Kenosha with his AR-15 in August 2020 from a ‘mob’ of BLM protesters
- Prosecutors say he was a blood thirsty vigilante and was given a soft-touch by cops because he’s white
- His case encapsulates the tension that divided the country last summer as protests turned into riots
- The jury started deliberating five counts on Tuesday morning; Rittenhouse faces life behind bars if convicted
- Judge Bruce Schroeder on Monday threw out what was considered to be the simplest charge – gun possession under 18 – citing an obscure technicality in the wording of the law