How Kyle Rittenhouse's defense team made the decision to put him on the stand

• Defense attorney Mark Richards said putting Kyle Rittenhouse on the stand was based on mock juries.
• Richards said the team tested going to trial with or without Rittenhouse's testimonies.

Kyle Rittenhouse's lawyer said the defense team decided to put the teen on the stand in his homicide after doing mock juries with or without Rittenhouse testifying.

Lead defense attorney Mark Richards said to reporters during a press conference that the test trials made it was clear putting Rittenhouse on the stand to testify was the right call.

"That sealed it," he said. "In Wisconsin, if you don't put a client on the stand, you're going to lose."

Richards said his team graded each juror on how likely they were to acquit Rittenhouse.

Before Rittenhouse's testimony last week, Richards told Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder that the teenager's decision to testify was "consistent with the advice of counsel."

Rittenhouse, 18, was fully acquitted on Friday for fatally shooting two men, and injuring a third, during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020. The jury delivered its verdict after three-and-a-half days of deliberation.

Rittenhouse had pleaded not guilty to his charges and testified on the stand that he acted in self-defense.