I would not have convicted just because he was there. That's silly. Whether he should have been there or not (and I think not) has nothing to do with determining if he committed the act of murder.
I couldn't agree more. In regards to the seemingly never ending, "He should have stayed home", argument. Consider this, because it's being mentioned on several other forums, and it bears repeating.
Rittenhouse wasn’t alone. There were multiple armed people on “his side”. He was the kid in the herd. The street hoodlums, attacked him because he was 17. The first one to make a move against him was a 36 year old convicted, child raping pedophile. Who was prescribed multiple pharmaceuticals, and was fresh out the hospital psycho ward only hours earlier. Along with his hotel dwelling, $5 blow job girl friend. The ass wipe who tried to jump kick him, was 39 years old. The other two annoying dicks were both in their upper 20’s.
No one seems to mention the fact that all of these assholes might have been better served by, "staying home". He had no choice but to act, because they targeted a kid who they stupidly thought would be easy prey. They waited until he was singled out from the herd, not knowing the kid was the ghost of Chuck Conners and Tony Montana combined.
Keep in mind this entire clusterf*#k was started by a child abusing, convicted pedophile. Along with an almost 40 year old adult, who should have picked a fight with somebody who had balls smaller than his.
Instead of all of this, "He should have stayed home", crap, I'll counter with a better solution. Perhaps all of these cowardly rioters would do a little better to choose their victims a little more carefully. Karma is always a bitch. But in this case his opposition consisted of so many dumb f*#ks that needed killing, this kid's going to be elevated to hero worship status, better and faster than Bernard Goetz.