Rittenhouse Lawyer Says Victim Once Threatened to Kill Brother: 'Gut Him Like a Pig'
One of the men who died after being shot by teenager Kyle Rittenhouse in August 2020 had a history of violent behavior and once threatened to “gut” his own brother “like a pig” over household chores, the defense said on Friday in Rittenhouse’s trial.
Corey Chirafisi, an attorney for Rittenhouse, put the character and past criminal record of Anthony Huber on display Friday during the televised trial.
“[Anthony] Huber told his brother that if he didn’t start cleaning a room in his house he was going to gut him like a pig,” Chirafisi told the court, noting that this was said while Huber held a butcher knife to the brother’s stomach.
The defense said that after the now-deceased man held the knife up, he watched as the brother assisted their grandmother in cleaning a kitchen.
“Huber grabbed his brother by the neck, dug his nails in and choked him for approximately ten seconds,” Chirafisi added. “He put a knife to his brother’s left ear and his brother felt it cut.”
“‘I’m going to burn the house down with all you f***ers in it,” the attorney quoted Huber as saying before he was charged with strangulation, the New York Post reported.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language which some viewers will find offensive.
this Mr. Huber guy sounds like a GREAT guy!
“start cleaning or ill gut you like a pig” – Anthony Huber to his brother and grandmother pic.twitter.com/zWOQzgyffQ
— oak_tree_upheaval (@oaktreeupheaval) November 5, 2021
Huber later accepted a plea deal, the defense said. The jury was not present when the defense presented its evidence focusing on Huber’s past.
A day prior in the trial, the defense focused on Joseph Rosenbaum, the first man who died after being shot by Rittenhouse, who was then 17. Rosenbaum’s fiancée, Kariann Swart, testified that the then-36-year-old had been released from a hospital on the day of his death.
She told the court she had pleaded with him to stay away from the area where protests had broken out after Jacob Blake was shot by Kenosha police while wielding a knife at a party.
Rosenbaum, who Swart said suffered from bipolar disorder, was reportedly in the middle of a tense moment where protesters and those who had descended on the area of Kenosha experiencing the unrest had met on the night he was shot, Reuters reported.
Rosenbaum allegedly threatened Rittenhouse and others who were in the area to protect businesses from looting and arson.
Army veteran Ryan Balch, a witness in the trial, said he was with Rittenhouse on the night of the deaths of Rosenbaum and Huber — and the shooting of a third man named Gaige Grosskreutz. Balch, who was composed during his testimony, said Rosenbaum was acting aggressively when he interacted with Balch and Rittenhouse just before he was shot.
Balch said Rosenbaum told him, Rittenhouse and others: “If I catch any of you guys alone tonight I’m going to f***ing kill you,” The Associated Press reported. The man later reportedly lunged for the teen’s rifle.
The previous behavior and the temperaments of both Huber and Rosenbaum have come into focus as the defense maintains Rittenhouse was fighting to stay alive when he shot three men who the defense said were actively pursuing him as he attempted to flee an area which was consumed by chaos.
Grosskreutz was the only one of the three men who survived after being shot by Rittenhouse, who was carrying a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle on the night of the shootings. Grosskreutz was reportedly carrying a pistol when he was shot once through the arm.
Rittenhouse faces charges of first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and other lesser charges.
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