No, it came down to a judge excluding evidence that proved Rittenhouse's intent.
If he was an innocent kid minding his own business, then the argument would have had merit.
It he had been fantasizing for weeks about murdering protestors or minorities, that would have shown premeditation.
The jury never heard about that, though.
Except the only people killed in the Kenosha Demonstrations were killed by Rittenhouse. So, yeah, they were "peaceful", for the most part.
It's not a matter of "emotion", it is a matter of what his motivations were.
Well, it kind of does. If he was an angry young white man who wanted to make minorities pay for objecting to police brutality, then his motivations do come into play. We've sent people to prison on a lot less evidence than they had on Rittenhouse. How often do you get video of them actually committing the murders?