Man who bought Kyle Rittenhouse’s AR-15-style rifle agrees to plea deal

Dominic black, the man who purchased the AR-15-style rifle used by Kyle Rittenhouse, will no longer face felony charges under a plea deal announced Monday.

Black, 20, of Racine, will instead plead guilty to a reduced charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and pay a $2,000 fine. Black was charged in 2020 with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor after he bought the gun for then-17-year-old Rittenhouse 

Rittenhouse used the rifle to kill two attackers and injure a third during last year’s violent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in November, after he argued he acted in self-defense.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder accepted Black’s plea deal during a brief, six-minute hearing on Monday. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger dropped the two felony counts as part of the deal. 

Binger, the assistant DA, said he did not believe he could pursue the charges given Black’s testimony in the trial. “In these circumstances, to go forward with these felony charges against Mr. Black, given the court’s legal ruling as well as Mr. Black’s cooperation and the jury’s decision in the Rittenhouse case, does not seem appropriate,” Binger said Monday.

In an email to the Associated Press, Black’s attorney Tony Cotton wrote that “justice was done.” Cotton added, “The District Attorney’s Office did the right thing by agreeing to dismiss the felony charges against our client especially considering that a jury found Rittenhouse not guilty.”