Darrell Brooks has been convicted of a car ramming attack that killed six people and wounded 62 others in Waukesha Wisconsin. NPR. Brooks drove his Ford Escape into a Christmas Parade last year in November after fleeing from a domestic dispute. The jury only deliberated for three hours and fifteen minutes before finding him guilty on all counts. Brooks inexplicably withdrew his insanity defense and fired his public defenders, representing himself during the trial. Brooks was erratic and disruptive during the trial and had to be removed from the courtroom several times. During his closing statements Brooks said that the throttle on his SUV malfunctioned and that he hasn't been able to see his kids since the trial began. Prosecutors countered that Brooks SUV was in good working order and that he deliberately ran into people.
My Comment:
I did not watch the trial but I was reading up on this case as it the trial was going on. This was a semi-local case for me since I live in Wisconsin and I know people that live in that area of the state. It's pretty personal compared to a lot of stories I cover on this blog. I simply didn't have time to watch the entire trial though.
Darrell Brooks made an utter mockery of this trial. He was erratic and disturbing even at his best behavior but for most of the trial he was not anywhere near his best behavior. He was insulting to the judge, angry with witnesses and in general, behaved like an absolute idiot. I can't imagine that the people that were on the jury were impressed.
He made several huge mistakes that are simply baffling. His only real chance of decent outcome was an insanity defense and though that is hard to get in any state, including Wisconsin, it was his only option to avoid a life sentence. He probably would have spent most of his days in a mental hospital but at least he would have had a chance at getting out at some point. Instead, barring some kind of miraculous and inexplicable appeal, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Firing his lawyers was another huge mistake and one that probably cost him whatever small chance he had. Brooks did very poorly as his own defense attorney and his constant arguments with the judge probably did not endear him to the jury. Though people have a right to defend themselves without a lawyer, it's almost always considered a bad idea, especially if you don't have a law license, and even more so when you behave like Brooks did. He could have kept them on to at least help him with his case but he didn't even do that.
Indeed, many people wonder if Brooks wasn't intentionally tanking his trial so he could raise these issues on appeal. The idea being that the trial was biased because he antagonized the judge and he didn't have adequate legal representation. If that was the plan I doubt it would work because any appeals judge will have seen his behavior during his trial and rightly conclude that this was what he was trying to do.
Darrell Brooks also tried to pull the "sovereign citizen" crap at his trial. I think the stereotype of sovereign citizens is a white guy, but quite a few black people are into it as well. Their legal arguments pretty much always rejected in court. This case was no exception. Brooks even tried to bring up jury nullification, which courts utterly hate, even though he's right that juries should be allowed to consider it. Not like the jury would do so in this case.
What we didn't get was a reason why Brooks would drive into a parade. It does not seem to be politically motivated and I certainly don't buy his excuses about being panicked or his vehicle failing. This was a deliberate attack and I don't think we will really properly understand Brooks motivation for the attack as it doesn't appear that Brooks understands it himself.
Though the trial was a circus, I am glad that it, at the very least, brought the attack back into the public consciousness. The Christmas ramming attack was one of the worst crimes in Wisconsin and I think it was well on the way of being memory-holed and if it wasn't for Brooks and his bizarre behavior, I think we would have never heard about it again.
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