Great-aunt of man killed by Rittenhouse said verdict ‘wasn’t a total surprise’

By Mark Guarino

4:36 p.m.

Susan Hughes said “it wasn’t a total surprise” that Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges related his fatal shooting of her great-nephew Anthony Huber.

“I live here, I know the community is split. I know because it’s obvious the jury was. It took them four days to make a decision,” she said.

“I thought we had a chance. But there was a lot of money [raised for the defense], and a lot of advance support and publicity tainting the public perception of who [Rittenhouse] is.”

After sitting in the courtroom for the verdict, Hughes went to a park along the coast of Lake Michigan, a place where she and Huber often met. Hughes testified for the prosecution during the trial and had the closet relationship with Huber among his family members. A lawsuit that she is not a part of has been filed by John and Karen Huber, his parents, against the city of Kenosha.

Hughes, 74, said she worries that the verdict will “embolden” Rittenhouse’s supporters “to be more brazen in some of their actions and that’s frightening.” She criticized defense attorney Mark Richards for saying in his closing argument that Joseph Rosenbaum, another man Rittenhouse fatally shot, “deserved” to die.

“That was dangerous,” she said. “That is very scary.”

As for Rittenhouse, she said she hopes “he can develop remorse” and “makes some atonement and acknowledgment for what he did.”

“He could make a grand gesture. Whatever he makes from the millions of dollars he raised, he could give it to an organization that supports victims of gunshot violence or trains people in de-escalation or conflict resolution,” she said. “But I don’t think that’ll be the case. You’ll see him in ads promoting AR-15s.”