Wisconsin Man Accused Plowing Into Christmas Parade Convicted Of Six Counts Of First-Degree Intentional Homicide
On Wednesday (October 26), a Waukesha County jury found Darrell Brooks guilty of six counts of first-degree intentional homicide for driving his car through a Christmas parade last year.
WISN reports that it took the jury just under three hours of deliberations to reach the guilty verdict in the Waukesha Parade attack on November 21, 2021. As the guilty verdicts were being read, according to the news station, a family member of one of the victims yelled, “Burn in Hell you piece of (expletive)." That person was escorted from the courtroom after the judge ordered him removed and was not ticketed, cited or arrested.
The 40-year-old defendant, who represented himself in court during his trial, was accused of driving into the Waukesha Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring 61 others.
Brooks was charged with 76 counts, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety, six counts of hit-and-run causing death, two counts of felony bail jumping and one count of battery.
Prosecutors maintained that Brooks was intentional in mowing down the crowd that had lined up for a holiday tradition and turned it into tragedy. "There's overwhelming evidence that this was an intentional act by Darrell Brooks and an act of utter disregard for human life," said District Attorney Sue Opper. "Not one person had to be hurt that day if he would have just stopped driving."
Through the course of the trial, Brooks was consistently disruptive and demonstrated he knew little about court procedure. At one point, Judge Jennifer Dorow accused him of having a "staring match" with her in the courtroom, and at another the proceedings went on with Brooks in a different room.
But in his closing arguments, Brooks attempted to convince jurors that the crash was not his fault.
""What if the vehicle couldn't stop because of malfunction," he asked the jury, trying to get them to believe there was a recall on the car he was driving. "What if the driver of the vehicle was unable to stop the vehicle? Because of that fact, what if the driver may have panicked?"
However, Brooks failed to convince the jury that the crash was anyone's fault but his. He is now likely to receive life in prison over his conviction.
Brooks, a convicted sexual offender, has a history of threatening to use his vehicle as a weapon. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt in 2011 and initially gave police a false name. When an officer asked him again to identify himself, Brooks turned on his vehicle and put it in drive. Fearing he would be run over, the officer jumped into the car with Brooks and wrestled with him for control of the vehicle. When the car was stopped, Brooks ran off and was found hiding in a child’s playhouse. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in that case.
On November 2, Brooks came to see a woman who was staying at a motel but that turned into a violent incident. He yelled and swore while banging on the door. When the woman answered and tried to move past Brooks, he snatched her phone and drove away.
The women later walked to a gas station, and Brooks drove up and demanded she get in the car. When the woman refused, Brooks punched her in the face and ran her over with his car in the gas station parking lot. She survived but was hospitalized.
