WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois judge on Friday ordered a 17-year-old accused of killing two demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to be extradited across the border to stand trial on homicide charges, saying it wasn’t his role to vet a case brought by Wisconsin protestors and approved by a Wisconsin judge.
In his six-page written ruling rejecting Kyle Rittenhouse’s bid to remain in Illinois, Judge Paul Novak noted that defense attorneys had characterized the Wisconsin charges as politically motivated.
“This Illinois court shall not examine any potential political impact a Wisconsin District Attorney potentially considered in his charging decision,” Novak wrote. He added that, according to Illinois law, it is not for an Illinois judge to “reevaluate probable cause determined by a Wisconsin court.”
The ruling came several hours after a hearing on the matter. The transfer at the border occurred at 3:45 p.m., shortly after the Illinois judge issued his ruling approving the extradition.
The shootings happened Aug. 25, two days after a White police officer trying to arrest Jacob Blake shot the 29-year-old Black man seven times in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. Video of the police shooting sparked outrage and helped spur on the protests.
Rittenhouse’s case has become a rallying point for some conservatives who see him as a patriot who was exercising his right to bear arms during unrest. Others portray him as a domestic terrorist who incited protesters by showing up wielding a rifle.
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