https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...eaths-rcna6207
Could Kyle Rittenhouse face civil penalties despite acquittals in Kenosha deaths?
The Illinois teenager won full acquittals in criminal court but the possibility of civil lawsuits could still loom.
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Nov. 19, 2021, 7:27 PM CST / Updated Nov. 20, 2021, 8:28 AM CST
By Tim Stelloh and David K. Li
As an 18-year-old online college student, Kyle Rittenhouse wouldn't appear to have deep pockets to pay for any award should he face —and lose — a civil trial in the shooting deaths of the two men he was acquitted of killing on Friday.
But Rittenhouse has proven to be a prodigious fundraiser when it comes to gathering resources to pay for his bail and defense in the wake of the deadly violence last year in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc.
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"He's a public figure now, and money might come in," said Ion Meyn, who teaches law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "I'm not convinced there's nothing there."
Supporters have already given more than $2 million for his legal defense.
If Rittenhouse were taken to civil trial for wrongful death, the teen could claim self-defense, as he did during the criminal case. He has said that he went to Kenosha to protect property from rioters but that he came under attack and feared for his life when he shot three people, two of them fatally.
But the burden of proof civil plaintiffs need to make, by a preponderance of evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt, is much lower than what Kenosha prosecutors faced during the criminal trial, legal experts say.
"In a civil case you just have to prove negligence," said Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law. "Did his conduct fall below the standard of care that the average person would have?"
Rittenhouse "could say, 'I didn't have the intent to kill anyone — I just panicked,'" Little added. "The jury could still say, 'We didn't think the average person would do what you did.' If your conduct is judged to be less than that, you lose."
A civil action would also allow a jury to examine a broader range of evidence.
In the criminal case against Rittenhouse, Judge Bruce Schroeder barred jurors from considering Rittenhouse's links to the sometimes-violent, far-right Proud Boys and from seeing a video that prosecutors said showed him injuring a teenage girl.
Instead, jurors were told to focus on the few moments before the shootings — or what Little called "a narrow piece of the day's action."
"In a civil case, you can broaden the field," he said. "You can look into things like, what was he doing there?"