As the prosecution and defence delivered closing speeches before the Kyle Rittenhouse trial proceeded to a jury deliberations stage on 15 November, Mark and Patricia McCloskey turned up at the courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to show their support for the defendant.
Kyle Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and other counts for shooting and killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.
Kyle Rittenhouse waits for court to begin during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in Kenosha (Wisconsin) Circuit Court in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 9, 2021.
© REUTERS / POOL
The then 17 year-old claims he was acting in self-defence after the men attacked him. Posecutors have argued he provoked the violence by showing up with a rifle. The shooting happened amid a series of often-violent protests that came in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis.
‘Support for Concept of Self-Defense’
The McCloskeys, a Missouri couple who made headlines on 28 June 2020 by brandishing guns pointed at Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters marching past their St Louis residence on the way to a rally outside the home of the mayor of St Louis, Lyda Krewson, were cited by the Daily Mail as saying:
“We are just here to show our support for Kyle Rittenhouse. For the concept of self-defence. For our God-given rights under the Second Amendment to defend ourselves when necessary. And to hope that the jury acquits on all counts.”
Mark McCloskey, who is running as a Republican for US Senate in Missouri on 2 August 2022, was cited by the publication as saying:
“When the government advocates it's wrong for protecting honest citizens from criminals, when the government orders the police to stand down from protecting honest citizens, then honest citizens have to defend themselves. That's what Kyle did; that's what we did."
Mark McCloskey added: “We should all respect the jury's verdict.”
The politically divisive Rittenhouse trial is being closely watched across the US, with 500 National Guard troops placed on standby in the Midwestern state ahead of a verdict. Like Rittenhouse, Mark and Patricia McCloskey have prompted some to hail them as champions of the Second Amendment, while others see them as vigilantes.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger holds Kyle Rittenhouse's gun as he gives the state's closing argument in Kyle Rittenhouse's trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on November 15, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
© POOL
In July 2020, police seized both of the guns from the couple, with St Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner later charging them with the felony of “unlawful use of a weapon”.
In June 2021 the lawyer couple pleaded guilty: Patricia McCloskey - to a misdemeanour charge of harassment, and Mark McCloskey - to fourth-degree assault. While agreeing to pay a total of around $3,000 in fines, the two also agreed to give up their guns. Republican Missouri governor, Mike Parson, pardoned the McCloskey couple this September.
On Monday, Mark McCloskey underscored that it was wrong for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to have previously commented on the Rittenhouse case without hearing all the evidence. In November 2020, then Democratic presidential, nominee Biden featured Rittenhouse in his campaign video, while branding the young man a “white supremacist” on Twitter.
Biden’s post, which included an image of Rittenhouse carrying AR-15 rifle, had targeted former President Donald Trump for unwillingness to condemn and militia groups during the 29 September presidential debate.
McCloskey was cited by Fox News as saying the couple “felt” for Rittenhouse.
“We feel he acted in self-defence. We think he's been politically prosecuted, as were we, and we're hoping that the jury find him not guilty on all counts and that he can go home a free man.”