By Brendan O’Brien
(Reuters) – Darrell Brooks, a Wisconsin man who killed six people and injured dozens of others when he drove his SUV into a Christmas parade near Milwaukee last year, was found guilty on Wednesday of intentional murder and other charges.
A 12-member jury convicted Brooks, 40, of more than 76 charges, including six counts of intentional homicide, each of which carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison.
Brooks, wearing a suit and tie and a blue surgical mask over his nose and mouth, bowed his head against his clasped hands while Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow read the verdicts.
Brooks was accused of deliberately driving his sport utility vehicle through police barricades on Nov. 21 and plowing into crowds of people participating in the annual parade in Waukesha, about 15 miles (25 km) west of downtown Milwaukee.
The dead ranged in age from 8 to 81, and more than 60 others were injured, including at least 18 children. Among the casualties were members of a dance troupe known as the “Dancing Grannies.”
Brooks, a Milwaukee resident, represented himself during the three-week trial.
During his closing argument on Monday, Brooks told the jury that he had no intention of hurting anyone. He said he sounded the vehicle’s horn as he drove through the crowd, attempting to warn people to get out of the way.
“When you ride through a parade route and roll over children … your intent is known, Mr. Brooks,” Waukesha County District Attorney Sue Opper said during closing arguments. “That’s not an accident.”
Before the verdicts were read on Wednesday, Brooks asked the judge to rule on several motions, including a request for a mistrial. She denied all of them as she waited for the jury to return to the courtroom.
On numerous occasions during the proceedings, Dorow admonished Brooks for failing to follow court rules and arguing with her. She removed Brooks from the courtroom several times, sending him to another room where he watched the proceedings.
At one point, Brooks took off his shirt in the other room, before Dorow, seeing him on a camera feed visible in the courtroom, stopped the proceedings and gave the court a break, journalists covering the trial reported.
At the time of the attack, Brooks was out on bail on a domestic abuse charge. He was arrested near the scene and has been in custody ever since.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Howard Goller)
