Darrell Brooks was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of a longer-term supervision on Wednesday, after he drove his SUV into the crowd of people attending a Christmas parade within Waukesha, Wisconsin, last year six people were killed and injuring many.
A clean victory for the prosecution the jury was able to convict Brooks 40 years old guilty in the month of March of all 76 charges arising of the assault which included six counts of intentional first degree murder using the use of a deadly weapon.
Following two days of declarations from relatives and victims After hearing from family members and victims, Judge Jennifer Dorow imposed the mandated sentence, directing Brooks to serve a life-long sentence, without the possibility of further supervision for any one of the first-degree murder cases. The sentences will run in a series according to the judge.
Dorow also handed down sentences of hundreds of years on the remaining 70 cases in which Brooks is found to be guilty. She sent Brooks for 17 1/2 years in jail for all 61 charges of first-degree recklessly putting lives at risk by using an unsafe weapon.
“You do not feel any remorse for what you do. You don’t feel any compassion to anyone.” Dorow said. “Frankly I’m sorry, Monsieur. Brooks, no one is safe from your wrath.”
Brooks spoke for over two hours, explaining to the court that he is struggling to comprehend why this devastating incident took place.
“The what, the why and the how,” Brooks said. “How do you think life could ever be so far from the way it should be? No matter what some people say about me and who I am or about my family, or about my faith, I am what I’m. God knows who I am and I’m not uttering any expressions that express anger.”
He said he would never “throw the gun” at anyone as He wanted to follow his “high road” however, he then went on to criticize Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper’s credibility and said he would never be able to respect “how you carried out your duties” and claimed that Opper’s crimes weren’t her concern.
Brooks Grandmother, Mary Edwards, said it was her request that Brooks “will humblely and with sincerity apology,” She also apologized “to the people who have been deeply hurt by the events that have occurred and this tragic incident that was created by my grandson.” Brooks, who did not speak for himself, apologized only once, and said that nobody will ever be able to see the sorrow that he is feeling.
“I would like to let you know that not only am I truly sorry for what I did, but I’m sorry you did not understand what’s really inside my heart, that you aren’t able to see the regret that I feel,” he told the court. “That you can’t think of all the tears I’ve shed this past year.”
Although Brooks family members raised the issue of his mental health in this hearing, the judge stated that mental health issues didn’t make him a risky driver in the midst of a huge crowd. In citing the opinions of four mental health assessments, Dorow said Brooks understood the distinction between the right and wrong. Brooks is not remorseful nor does he have sympathy for anyone else she added.
“Do people with mental illness sometimes commit crimes of a horrific nature? They can. It’s not one of those instances,” Dorow said. “There are many instances often, good people commit bad acts However, there are instances where evil people do terrible things.
“There is no medicine to treat or cure a heart which is enticed by evil.”
Brooks has previously stated that the plan is in the future to contest his sentence.
Prosecution requested the most severe penalties
Prosecutors requested to have Brooks receive the maximum sentence permitted, consecutively served during the November 21st 2021 attack.
“You have seen the videos. It wasn’t like he was hitting a large number of people of about 50 at a time and then hitting them,” Opper said. “He hit one and kept going. Hit two more, continued. Hit three, and kept going through the street. This is a string of sentences, you honour. It’s deliberate volitional, willful conduct that requires consecutive sentences one over the others, much like the victim was stacked up when he drove along without regard to any other driver.”
As well as the 762 1/2 year sentence for reckless danger, Dorow added three years each for two bail-jumping convictions , and 9 months of domestic battery. The long prison sentence is essential for the security of the community as she explained. Any other approach is to “unduly reduce the seriousness of these crimes,” she said.
“It is necessary – even though it’s mostly symbolic given the amount of time I’ve put in place here this day – since you are worthy,” Dorow said.
The decision on mental health treatment is can be left to officials of the State Department of Corrections, she declared.
The families of the victims started speaking out on Tuesday about what they’ve suffered and lost. Some of the over 40 people who delivered statements were the relatives from Virginia Sorenson, part of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies troupe that has lost three participants in the terrorist attack WTMJ reported.
“I will be a victim of my loss” stated Sorenson’s spouse, David. “I am fortunate to have my family take care of myself and surround me up in the love of my life so that I can begin to stitch together the fractured life I’m living now.”
Some victims who addressed the court stated that they would forgiving the killer, Sorenson told the judge, “I ask you to imprison this vile animal for forever in prison without possibility of parole for the heinous killing of my spouse,” WTMJ reported.
Alisha Kulich, child of the 52 year-old Jane Kulich, who was killed in the parade, expressed her sadness her mother’s passing will cause her to not be able to witness so many moments in the rest of her family’s – as well as Jane Kulich’s grandchildren’s lives, according to the station.
“She will not get to witness me take my vows, or marry the one I’ve always wanted to marry,” Alisha Kulich said. “And she’ll never get to meet my children’s future and they won’t understand how it feels to have a grandma who pampers her children.”
“How do you make it happen and not stop?’
Alongside Sorenson along with Kulich, Jackson Sparks, 8, Tamara Durand, 52, Lee Owen, 71 Lee Owen, 71, along with Wilhelm Hospel, 81, were also killed. Sparks had been walking along with his baseball team in the parade. Durand Owen and Durand Owen also were Dancing Grannies, along with Sorenson Hospel, along with Hospel. Hospel was the spouse of an Dancing Granny who survived the attack.
Prosecutors presented evidence that showed Brooks deliberately drove into the crowd. In a criminal case, an officer who came in the rear of Brooks car, and told Brooks to stop stated that Brooks stared “directly at him and it appeared that he was wearing no emotion in his eyes.”
The vehicle sped past the officer, then accelerated, stopping at an intersection, after which it accelerated again, tires squealing, and then began zipping around as “bodies and other objects” flew through the air, the complaint states, while another witness claimed Brooks tried to stay clear of cars, not individuals, and did not effort to slow it down.
In a tearful conclusion, Brooks posited what would be the response in the event that the car malfunctioned and could not stop and the driver became panicked. Brooks said there was an recall on the car which he was driving. Dorow removed the comments off the transcript.
At the end of June Brooks made a plea deal of being not guilty on the grounds of insanity. But his public defenders pulled the plea in September. They then stopped representing Brooks and Dorow granted Brooks to be his own advocate.
He was a tyrant and disruptive in court and often sat over Dorow to present absurd arguments. Dorow sometimes placed Brooks in an isolated room in which he was able to be present via a screen and was not able to speak until the time came for him to speak. Brooks was twice taken to the room on Wednesday, after arguing about the judge.
Brooks’s mother, Dawn Woods, expressed concerns that her son was not competent to defend himself, and pleaded with the judge to not allow him to do so, WTMJ reported.
“He isn’t mentally stable enough to comprehend the major mistake he’s doing by attempting to be a lawyer for his own interests,” she said. “That alone ought to suffice to show that the fact that he is not able to be the sole attorney for himself.”
Brooks was arrested in a domestic violence case and was released from the jail on bail of $1,000 just two weeks prior to the parade. Brooks was accused of hitting the girl who claimed she had a child with his mother according to court papers. The prosecution later admitted that the bail was “inappropriately too low.”
