If Rittenhouse were taken to civil trial for wrongful death, the teen could claim self-defense, as he did during the criminal case.
"In a civil case you just have to prove negligence," said Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law.
In the criminal case against Rittenhouse, Judge Bruce Schroeder barred jurors from considering Rittenhouse's links to the sometimes-violent, far-right Proud Boys and from seeing a video that prosecutors said showed him injuring a teenage girl.
"In a civil case, you can broaden the field," he said.
Jeff Scott Olson, a civil rights lawyer in Madison, Wisc., said that even though Rittenhouse probably isn't worth a "hill of beans," a civil judgment against him would function as a lien against his assets for years
The federal government will also likely investigate to determine if a criminal civil rights violation occurred, Little said
Authorities are unlikely to bring such charges, because the burden of proof — beyond a reasonable doubt — is the same as state criminal court, he said
The year after the acquittal, in a separate case, federal authorities secured convictions against two of the officers for violating King's civil rights
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