KENOSHA, Wis. — The man considered the ‘star witness’ for the State in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial was disappointed the man who shot him and killed two others was found not guilty on all charges.
“It’s extremely disappointing,” Kim Motley, the attorney for Gaige Grosskreutz said. “Frankly, I don’t completely understand how they came to this conclusion but this is our legal system.”
Motley represents Grosskreutz in a civil lawsuit stemming from the night of the Rittenhouse shootings. She says Grosskreutz is looking for privacy after over a year of being in the spotlight, especially after having to relive what he called one of the most traumatic moments in his life on the witness stand.
“He took the stand, [even though] he was not subpoenaed to come to court,” Motley said. “He did come to the court and he told the truth.”
That truth included his role on the night of the shootings. Grosskreutz was armed, he had a handgun tucked into his waistband, and, while under questioning by Defense Attorney Corey Chirafisi, admitted to pointing his gun at Rittenhouse.
It’s a moment Motley says could have played a role in finding Rittenhouse not guilty.
“Yes, he pointed his gun at Rittenhouse,” Motley said. “After his arm was nearly shot off and he thought he was going to die. So it wasn’t an intentional pointing of his weapon at Rittenhouse. He obviously didn’t pull the trigger against Rittenhouse. He came to court. He told the truth and the jurors looked at all the evidence and that’s the conclusion they came away with.”
Motley’s concerned with the reality of America’s court of law as it stands. Over the course of a week in August of 2020, four people were shot. Jacob Blake and Grosskreutz survived their shootings while Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber were killed. Ultimately, no one was held criminally responsible for any of those shootings.
“To suggest that it’s okay for a 17-year-old to come across state lines and have an AR-15 unlawfully and to kill two people and nearly kill two more people, it's terrifying that the verdict was not guilty.”
The charge Rittenhouse faced for possessing a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 was dismissed earlier in the week because of a stipulation in the state statute that a 17-year-old can possess a rifle if the barrel is at least 16 inches.
Motley’s focus shifts to the civil lawsuit she’s filing on behalf of Grosskreutz. They are suing the City of Kenosha, Kenosha County, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth, former Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis, Interim Chief Eric Larsen and other law enforcement officers. Now that the criminal lawsuit is over, Motley will soon have access to all of the evidence in this trial; both what was admitted in court and anything the State chose to omit from the trial. Motley feels it could shed more light on who Rittenhouse is.
“Now, we are allowed to get the discovery that the prosecutors have that we weren’t allowed to get while the criminal matter was pending,” Motley said. “So there is a lot of information that we are going to be able to look at and see what they have. In OJ Simpson’s case, there was a lot more truths that came out and a lot more information that came out. We’re going to happily uncover this to the public, because we think it’s important to be open and transparent."