A jury found Darrell Brooks Jr. guilty on several criminal charges, convicting him of killing six people after driving an SUV into a crowd at a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, last November.
The jury found Brooks guilty on all six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, facing a mandatory life sentence on each count. Brooks was found guilty on every criminal charge brought against him, totaling 76. Brooks is set to reappear in court on Monday to schedule sentencing.
The jury reached a verdict in Brooks’s homicide trial Wednesday morning, coming to a decision in just over three hours. Brooks had pleaded not guilty to all counts against him.
Brooks attempted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but he withdrew the insanity plea last month. His attorneys then filed a motion to remove themselves from the case, prompting Brooks to ask to represent himself instead. Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow granted the request last week, ruling that Brooks possessed “the minimal competency necessary to conduct his own defense.”
Brooks’s trial began earlier this month as prosecutors sought to prove Brooks intentionally drove his car through the crowd at significant speeds with “utter disregard for human life.”
“He reached speeds of approximately 30 mph. That’s intentional,” Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper said during the trial. “He plowed through 68 different people — 68. How can you hit one and keep going? How can you hit two and keep going?”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Brooks’s trial was deemed unusual because he chose to represent himself in court, asking vague questions and repeatedly interrupting prosecutors as they made their arguments. Dorow has removed him from the courtroom several times throughout the trial.
The verdict comes less than a year after Brooks crashed through a crowd at Waukesha’s Christmas parade on Nov. 21, 2021, killing an 8-year-old boy who was in attendance as well as several members of the “Dancing Grannies” group.
