(JustPatriots.com)- The person who purchased a rifle for Kyle Rittenhouse may only face a fine for his actions if a state judge in Wisconsin signs off on a plea deal.
According to the attorney for Dominick Black, the plea deal will dismiss the two felony charges against his client. Court documents that were filed last week show that the plea deal would result in a citation that won’t be criminal, and Black would be forced to pay a $2,000 fine instead.
In 2020, Black was charged with two counts of providing a firearm to a minor. Because Rittenhouse was 17 years old at the time of the incident, he wasn’t able to purchase the firearm himself.
Black purchased it for him and gave it to him. The weapon in question was an AR-15 rifle, which Rittenhouse then brought to riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He then used the gun to shoot and kill two people and injure one more.
Black initially pleaded not guilty to those charges back in May. According to Black’s lawyers, it wasn’t necessarily a crime for their client to give Rittenhouse a gun, since it wasn’t illegal for him to possess one.
In Rittenhouse’s 2021 trial, Black was the first witness who testified for the prosecution. The two made an agreement that Black would purchase the firearm and keep it until Rittenhouse turned 18 years old.
Black then kept the gun in a safe located in the house of his stepfather, which was in Kenosha. Rittenhouse said that he used the $1,200 stimulus check he received from the federal government to pay for the firearm.
When the civil unrest in Kenosha started — following the shooting of Jacob Black back in 2020 — the stepfather moved the gun out of the safe, he told the Kenosha News. That’s how Rittenhouse was able to go into the house and retrieve it before heading over to the various protests taking place.
Rittenhouse was charged with five criminal offenses, but he was acquitted on all five charges in November of 2021. The jury ruled that Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense when he shot the three people.
Black’s initial charged with two counts of intent to sell a dangerous weapon to a minor, which are both felonies. His lawyer, Anthony Cotton, said this week that the plea agreement will result in Black pleading no contest to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which is a non-criminal violation of a county ordinance.
In Kenosha County Circuit Court, Judge Bruce Schroeder accepted that plea agreement, which resulted in the non-criminal charge and a fine of $2,000 being imposed on Black.
The assistant district attorney from Kenosha, Thomas Binger, said he believed it was appropriate to dismiss both felony charges against Black because of his willingness to cooperate with the prosecution in the case. He explained:
“I believe that does serve as a form of punishment and a deterrence to anyone going forward into the future … I do believe that it is a serious offense to purchase a firearm for someone who is not legally able to do so.”
