Breakneck Jury Selection for Kyle Rittenhouse’s Murder Trial Takes All of One Day

Despite technical issues causing enough of a delay in proceedings that the judge started playing Jeopardy! with potential jurors, a panel in the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse was assembled by Monday evening. The abnormally quick jury selection was conducted in a single day. From a pool of around 150 prospective jurors, a panel of 20—11 women and nine men—was eventually selected, including eight alternate jurors.

The judge and trial attorneys questioned prospective jurors over their opinions on the case, last summer’s unrest, and gun rights. In their answers, several were dismissed after saying they had followed the news on Rittenhouse closely and formed strong opinions on him. Others expressed anxiety over the potential public response if they were to deliver a verdict. “Either way this goes, you’re going to have half the country upset with you,” one woman said.

Rittenhouse, now 18, was 17 when he crossed state lines to allegedly shoot two people dead and injure another during protests in Wisconsin over the shooting of Jacob Blake. He faces six criminal counts, including first-degree intentional homicide. Opening statements are slated to begin on Tuesday morning; the trial is expected to last around two weeks.