Darrell Brooks appeared in court Wednesday. Brooks pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness this year but withdrew his plea before the trial began without explanation.
Mike De Sisti / AP
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Mike De Sisti / AP
Darrell Brooks appeared in court Wednesday. Brooks pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness this year but withdrew his plea before the trial began without explanation.
Mike De Sisti / AP
MADISON, Wis. – A Wisconsin man was convicted Wednesday of killing six people as he drove his SUV over a Christmas parade last year, ending a trial in which he defended himself erratically and sometimes confrontational.
The jury found Darrell Brooks guilty of six counts of first-degree murder. He faces a mandatory life sentence on each count.
The jury heard the case on Tuesday and discussed a total of 3:15 a.m. Wednesday morning before announcing that it had reached a verdict.
Brooks drove his Ford Escape to a Christmas parade in Waukesha, a suburb of Milwaukee, on November 21 after fleeing a home disturbance with his ex-girlfriend, prosecutors said.
Six people were killed, including 8-year-old Jackson Sparks, who was marching in the parade with his baseball team, and three members of the Dancing Grannies, a group of ladies who danced in parades. Dozens of others were injured, some seriously.
Brooks pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness this year but withdrew his plea before the trial began without explanation. A few days before the trial began, he dismissed his public defenders, electing people to represent him.
District Attorney Susan Opper called standing officers and marchers, who testified that they saw Brooks behind the wheel of the SUV.
Brooks has struggled to defend, plunging into tortuous cross-exams, refusing to recognize his own name or the court’s authority over him and muttering under his breath that the trial was unfair.
He had such heated arguments with Judge Jennifer Dorow that several times while leading the jury selection, she moved him into another courtroom where he could watch the process. video proceedings and she can mute his microphone when he becomes disruptive.
Opper told jurors during Tuesday’s closing argument that Brooks’ refusal to stop as he entered the parade route showed he had intent to kill.
Dorow allows Brooks to return to the main courtroom to close his door to jurors face to face. In a rambling, repetitive speech, he tries to cast doubt on whether the SUV’s throttle is malfunctioning and whether the driver is simply panicking. He laments that he has not been able to see his children since his arrest and insists he is not a murderer.
Opper countered that a Wisconsin State Patrol vehicle inspector had previously testified that the SUV was in good working order. She warned jurors that Brooks was just trying to trick their sympathy.
