SEE IT: Kyle Rittenhouse raises $40K toward legal defense fund for Kenosha civil suits

Julia Johnson

December 25, 04:00 PM December 25, 04:31 PM

Kyle Rittenhouse thanked his followers on Christmas Eve for donating to his legal defense fund against civil action suits stemming from the 2020 incident in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in which he shot three men, killing two.

The 19-year-old was acquitted of all charges in last year's shooting deaths. "Today’s verdict means there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son," the family of Anthony Huber, one of the men killed by Rittenhouse, said at the time. "It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street."

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A lawsuit filed by the Hubers in 2021 named Rittenhouse as a defendant alongside Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth, former City of Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis, acting Police Chief Eric Larsen, and various unnamed officers and deputies.

Since the suit was filed, the teenager launched a fundraiser for his defense. Rittenhouse's campaign on GiveSendGo has raised more than $40,000 so far, with a goal of $150,000. He specifies on the website that the money is set to be used for "mounting legal fees."

"Kyle Rittenhouse was found NOT GUILTY by a jury of his peers," the fundraiser reminds readers. "The unanimous verdict did not prevent Kyle from being added as a defendant in an erroneous civil lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin against nine Wisconsin police departments, including ten city and county governments. The Plaintiff, John Huber, is represented by a Chicago-based, incredibly well-capitalized, Democrat Party-aligned law firm specializing in police misconduct and civil rights cases."

The suit alleges that law enforcement was aware of private citizens planning illegal behavior and did nothing to stop it. It further claims that they would have intervened were Rittenhouse a black man. According to the complaint, all of the armed private citizens were white.

In failing to intervene, the suit says law enforcement deprived Huber of his 14th Amendment right to equal protection and infringed on his First Amendment right by subjecting him and others to "discriminatory and retaliatory treatment."