Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was extradited from Illinois to Wisconsin to face murder charges for allegedly killing two protesters during civil unrest in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse is facing charges of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber. He was also charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for wounding another man during the shooting on August 25.

Rittenhouse's lawyers argued against the extradition, claiming that the teen acted in self-defense. According to records obtained by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Rittenhouse told police that he was hired to protect a business in Kenosha and had the AR-15 to defend himself. The owner of the business told the newspaper that he did not hire armed security to protect his businesses.

Rittenhouse claimed he tried to turn himself in to police in Kenosha but was told to go home. While waiting for medical attention, Rittenhouse state that he "shot two white kids." He also said that he was hit with a baseball bat and a skateboard before he opened fire.

In a last-ditch effort to halt the extradition, Rittenhouse's lawyers tried to have it thrown out on technical grounds due to what they called "fatal defects" in the extradition paperwork,

The judge said that the paperwork was in order and ruled in favor of extraditing Rittenhouse stating that it was not his duty to decide whether the teen's claims of self-defense are valid. He said that the teen will have to argue that claim in front of a court in Wisconsin.

If convicted of first-degree homicide, Rittenhouse faces a sentence of life in prison.

Photo: Getty Images

John Corby

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