Kyle Rittenhouse's friend, who bought him an assault-style rifle when he was only 17, has agreed to plead no contest to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a non-criminal citation, and avoid convictions on the two felonies he'd been facing.
Dominick Black, 20, was charged in November with two counts of delivering a dangerous weapon to a minor, resulting in death. The two counts related to Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, the protesters Rittenhouse fatally shot the night of Aug. 25, 2020, in Kenosha.
Black was 18 when he purchased the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle for Rittenhouse at a hardware store in Rusk County in May that year. At 17, Rittenhouse was too young to legally purchase the weapon.
In August, Rittenhouse used it to kill two people and wound a third during protests in Kenosha. In November, a jury found him not guilty, based on his claim of self-defense.
Black was the first prosecution witness at Rittenhouse's trial, but the status of his own charges were up in the air after Judge Bruce Schroeder agreed to throw out one of the charges against Rittenhouse – that he unlawfully possessed a firearm as a minor. The defense convinced Schroeder that an exception in the law allows 17-year-olds to possess rifles and shotguns, or at least left the law too vague to be enforceable.
VERDICT IN TRIAL:Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts of homicide, reckless endangerment
Black's attorney, Anthony Cotton of Waukesha, had made the same argument for dismissing Black's case. Schroeder is also the judge on Black's case, which is set for a hearing Monday.
On Friday, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger filed a proposed plea agreement. It suggested Black would plead no contest to a pair of citations, and pay a $2,000 fine, and the felony counts would be dismissed. The proposed deal was first reported by kenoshacountyeye.com.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE VERDICT EXPLAINED:'If you believe him when he says self-defense, then you have to acquit him'
Judge Schroeder could reject the deal or still just dismiss the original felony counts based on his ruling about the minors-with-firearms law in the Rittenhouse case.
Reached Saturday, Cotton said he's hopeful Schroeder will accept the negotiated agreement, noting that Black has already testified under oath as to all the factual basis.
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