The Bizarre Case and Trial of Darrell Brooks
Trigger warning: This piece contains graphic descriptions of murder and some instances of sexual abuse that may be disturbing/triggering for some people. Reader discretion is advised.
Of all the bizarre cases that you might’ve come across, there’s none like this one. Darrell Brooks murdered people. Six of them. That’s horrific, but that’s not even the bizarre part. It’s the trial that has had the world of justice shook.
From correcting the judge to laughing during witness statements, Brooks left no stone unturned in making a mockery of the legal system. So, how did the lawyers and the judges handle it? I’ll discuss everything right here.
Criminal Record — A Timeline
A Milwaukee resident, Darrell Brooks is a rapper who goes by the name Mathboi Fly. There isn’t much information available on his childhood but what is very well-known by now is the fact that this man has a solid criminal record that goes back all the way to 1999. And it’s not just a few things here and there. His criminal record is consistent. Year after year he ran in with the law in three different states several times.
- 1999: Darrell Brooks Jr. was charged with substantial battery in Milwaukee County. He was just about 18 years old at the time. His adulthood began with his violent attacks.
- 2000: Brooks pleaded guilty to the battery and received three years probation with six months in the House of Correction in Franklin. A place where someone is supposed to learn how to be civil and not indulge in criminal activities, Brooks did quite the opposite. He got into trouble again.
- 2002–2003: Brooks was charged with two more crimes — marijuana possession and misdemeanor obstruction. This was again in Milwaukee County. Since these were low-level crimes, this time he was to spend just 70 days in the House of Correction.
For those who don’t know what “obstruction” means in the world of crime, here’s the definition:
Obstruction is a broad crime that may include acts such as perjury, making false statements to officials, witness tampering, jury tampering, destruction of evidence, and other such acts.
So, by now we know that Brooks wasn’t just violent but was a cold and scheming individual too. And here he goes again…
- 2005: Brooks was charged with obstruction. This time it wasn’t in Milwaukee but in Manitowoc County. He didn’t appear in court and got a bench warrant from the judge. Another angle to his personality? Disrespectful and zero accountability. It is only about to get worse.
- 2006: Brooks impregnated a minor, a 15 year old girl. He was convicted of statutory sexual seduction in Sparks, Nevada. He was put on probation and was required to register himself as a sex offender.
When Brooks wrote a letter to the judge requiring more credit for the time he had served, he revealed some details in that letter. He wrote that he grew up in Milwaukee without a father but had a supportive mother. He also claimed that he was hospitalized for mental health conditions when he was 12 years old.
These are just the claims he made. None of it is confirmed so we don’t know how much truth is in that statement.
“Crystal Darkness”, a documentary about methamphetamine addiction was released in 2007. Brooks’ interview was featured in the documentary while he was serving jail time in Reno, Nevada.
Here’s what he said about methamphetamine:
“You actually become the drug, not even a human being.”
- 2009: Brooks was back in Wisconsin. Finally, after 4 years of missing that court appearance, he pleaded no contest. He was found guilty of the 2005 obstruction case in Manitowoc and was sentenced to two days in prison. And in a matter of just six months, he was back to his violent ways..
- 2010: Brooks was charged with strangulation, battery and criminal damage to property in Wood County. He had allegedly shoved a woman to the ground while having a heated argument. He had also grabbed her throat and attempted to strangulate her by grabbing her throat.
We can clearly see that by this time, Brooks is a threat to society. Despite being charged with so many offenses in the past, he continued to behave in a violent manner.
In April 2010, Brooks pleaded no-contest to the strangulation charge and was found guilty. But there was a plea agreement because of which, the other counts were dismissed. He was sentenced to only 90 days in jail with work release and three years probation.
Think about it. By now he has had several obstruction charges, a sexual offence of impregnating a minor, two charges of violence and battery and some more of drug possession. He almost murdered this woman by strangulating her. There is clearly nothing right about this man and he’s still continuing to get away with it. The authorities had been giving him lenient sentences despite his sketchy criminal record. It’s clear that he is very capable of committing horrific crimes in the future, which unfortunately, he did…
More Crimes
After a year Brooks was at it again. This time he was charged with resisting an officer in Milwaukee County. He had tried to flee a traffic stop when officers had stopped him. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
During this stop, Brooks turned his car on and started to drive. The officer said that he feared Brooks was going to run him over.
In 2011, his probation was revoked from the strangulation case. It was time for him to spend 11 months in jail.
In 2012, Brooks pleaded guilty in the case from the Milwaukee traffic stop and was was back to the House of Correction with a sentence of 37 days.
Shockingly, it took six years for the authorities to find out that Brooks had provided a false address while registering as a sex offender in Nevada. He committed the crime in 2006 and this realization happened in 2012.
And it took another 4 years for the Police in Sparks, Nevada to arrest Brooks for failing to obey sex offender laws. He had failed to comply with the registry since 2008. It seems like the authorities delayed their work a lot on the Brooks case.
And yet again, Brooks failed to appear in court after posting bail in the case and an arrest warrant was issued against him.
Brooks moved to Wisconsin sometime after this but here’s the really weird part about his cases… Despite his repeated run ins with Wisconsin law enforcement, they didn’t know he was a registered sex offender.
Fast-forward to 2020, Brooks had an argument with a relative and their friend in Milwaukee. He was then accused of shooting at them but luckily, nobody was injured.
He was charged with two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count of felony for possession of a firearm.
The prosecutor in the case recommended a bail amount of $15,000 but Brooks’ lawyer argued for lower bail and shockingly the judge agreed! Despite Brooks’ sketchy and violent history, the bail was set at just $7,500.
Days later his bail was lowered to just $500 which was a ridiculous lowering considering his violent tendencies.
At this time, it seems that Brooks had become nonchalant about his crimes because of the short sentences. It was literally like he was being encouraged at this point, so he continued with increasing his criminal record.
He was arrested by the Union City Police in yet another domestic violence case. According to a man’s statement to the police, he heard Brooks beating a woman in a hotel room. His cruel and senseless physical abuse doesn’t stop.
On Nov. 2, 2021, a woman told the Milwaukee police that Brooks had punched her and had driven over her leg during an argument at a gas station.
Brooks was arrested and booked into Milwaukee County Jail. As part of the intake process, sheriff’s deputies checked the National Crime Information Center for his background. But here comes a big loophole in the police’s management of criminals.
The information and report on Brooks had no mention of the years-long open warrant for skipping court in Nevada and his recent arrest in Georgia.
Eventually Brooks faced counts of felony bail jumping, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and battery, with several domestic abuse assessments attached to the charges. Here’s another shocking change in the bail. It was raised but to how much?
From $500 it was only doubled. Which means for all of those charges on Brooks, he could be bailed out for just $1,000.
Court Commissioner Cedric Cornwall agreed and set bail at that amount. This decision was taken despite the county’s pretrial risk assessment showing Brooks to be at fairly high risk for release from jail.
And not surprisingly, Brooks’ mother bailed him out and he was released from Milwaukee County Jail. He had a “hold” from the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department related to another case about child-support. Brooks was then taken directly to Waukesha County Jail. At this point one just wonders, how many cases can a person have on them and still go on to get easily out of jail and commit more crimes?
He had said more lies to the authorities than the crimes he had committed. When Brooks appeared before Waukesha County Court Commissioner David Herring, the prosecutor wanted the jail time to be imposed immediately. But pat came Brooks’ response. He said that he could not pay for child support because he was in custody for six months in Georgia, from about April to September.
No rewards for guessing that he wasn’t in custody at that time. This was a lie but nobody in the court checked the records and he had just fooled them.
Herring issued a stay on the jail-time order and allowed Brooks to be released on his own recognizance in the paternity case.
His Crime Spree Ends With A Horrific Scene
November 21st 2021, according to the police, Brooks was involved in a “domestic disturbance” and then drove through the Waukesha Christmas Parade route, killing five people in the process and injuring more than 60 others. He was arrested the same night.
The victims who died in the attack that night are Tamara L. Carlson Durand, Virginia “Ginny” E. Sorenson, Leanna “Lee” Owen, Wilhelm “Bill” Hospel and Jane Kulich.
Brooks was charged with uncountable felonies that included five charges of first-degree intentional homicide, in the parade attack. His bail was set at a whopping $5 million this time. Well, thankfully not at $1,000.
The authorities learn that a sixth death has occurred in relation to the attack and another homicide charge is added to the list.
Investigators with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office met with the victim in the domestic violence case and played her portions of the recorded jail calls. She was asked to identify the voices and she said that the voices were hers and Brooks’.
Brooks’ mother released a statement to reporters. She offered condolences to the victims of the parade tragedy and said that her son had long standing mental health issues. Here’s what she said:
“Darrell has suffered from mental health issues since he was very young. In those years he received counseling and was on medication. When he became an adult a decision was made that he no longer suffered from a mental illness. That decision left him with no insurance or financial means to pay for medication and when determined (sic) necessary counseling. Instead of offering help and resources to combat the problem a jail cell was given. Over and over again. When mental illness is not properly treated the person becomes sicker and sicker. It doesn’t go away once a person becomes an adult.”
On the very same day, Fox News reporters published what Brooks said to them in an interview in the jail:
“I just feel like I’m being monster — demonized.”
Brooks was charged with witness intimidation counts in Milwaukee County in the domestic violence case.
In June of 2022, Brooks sought to change his plea in the parade attack to not guilty by reason of mental disease. This is known as insanity defense where a criminal claims that he committed a crime in a kind of an incoherent state where he didn’t quite understand what he was doing. This is basically to prove that a murder or a crime wasn’t premeditated as the perpetrator wasn’t in his senses.
Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow ruled against two defense motions to dismiss the case related to what Brooks’ attorneys considered an improper search of his jail cell in July and to suppress his statements made to investigators in November 2021.
Brooks later withdrew his insanity defense in the parade case, suggesting court-ordered psychiatric evaluations did not support his claim.
He soon expressed that he wanted to represent himself and Judge Dorow granted Brooks’ request. She allowed the two lawyers who had been representing him to withdraw.
The Killings
You’ve seen the brief of what happened in the timeline. Let’s elaborate on what went down on the day of the tragic attack. After the very long and violent history of all that Darrell Brooks did in the last two decades, here comes the crime that will finally see him behind bars forever. The violent acts before showed very obviously that Brooks wasn’t going to stop. He didn’t receive the help he needed, and a lapse in the legal system let him out again and again and again which led to this scene.
On November 21, 2021, at 4.39 p.m., Brooks drove his SUV (a Red Ford Escape) through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He killed 6 people in the process and injured 62 others. He was at a 40mph speed. This bone chilling scene was witnessed by many and unfortunately, the screams of horror will haunt them for a lifetime.
The victims who died in this tragic crime:
- Tamara L. Carlson Durand — 52 years old
- Virginia “Ginny” E. Sorenson — 79 years old
- Leanna “Lee” Owen — 71 years old
- Wilhelm “Bill” Hospel — 81 years old
- Jane Kulich — 52 years old
The 6th victim to die was a little boy named Jackson Sparks who was just 8 years old. He died at the hospital later on while the other five died on the spot.
Think about it. If this was a mistake or drunk driving at worst, he would’ve stopped after hitting one person or two. How can someone drive their car into 70 people “unintentionally”. Will this be counted as a premeditated murder or will this be deemed manslaughter? We will find out when we talk about the trial.
This horrible crime tore 6 families’ lives apart. A normal and regular evening became a complete tragedy because a monstrous Brooks decided to drive into people and claim their lives.
The parade was live-streamed by many people, and other attendees captured the horrific and shocking incident on videos which were later posted to social media. According to two eyewitnesses, Brooks did not initially stop. One witness even described the driver as “calm and composed” which means he was in his senses and this was a deliberate crime. According to police reports, Brooks drove in a “zig-zag pattern” to hit as many people as possible.
He had a whopping 76 charges on him in this case which means there was literally no way he was going to get away this time. As for the motive, nobody knows why he did what he did but earlier on the same day as he drove his SUV into those innocent people in the parade, he had had a fight with his ex-girlfriend. It could have been a fit of rage that drove him so crazy.
After the incident the entire Wisconsin community came together and the whole of the United States stood in support of the victims. $900,000 were raised on a GoFundMe account for victims of the attack and a total of 7,000 donations were also made that helped raise over $1.8 million to the United for Waukesha Community Fund. The local contractors volunteered to install wheelchair ramps in the homes of all the injured victims.
By March 2022, the United for Waukesha Community Fund had raised more than $6.2 million for the victims of the attack. So many people felt the tragic shockwaves from this senseless and cruel attack and extended their help to all the suffering families.
The Trial and Sentencing
And if you thought Brooks is a bizarre criminal who goes on lying and committing crimes and worst of all, getting away with everything, wait till you see what he did at the trial. It gets even more bizarre. Let’s discuss the legal details of the trial first.
On January 14, 2022, there was a preliminary hearing in which Waukesha Court Commissioner Kevin Costello ruled that Brooks would stand trial as there was “ample evidence on all fronts.” Even Waukesha police detective Thomas Casey testified in the preliminary hearing as a witness. He said that he and other officers at the scene had yelled at Brooks to stop. But he didn’t. At the same time, Brooks zig-zagged with his vehicle to intentionally run pedestrians over.
He clearly had it on his mind. He wanted to kill people. This was no accident or a mistake. And like any other case where cars are not a vehicle but a weapon, the first argument is always “drunk driving” or a drug-induced intoxication.
Brooks’ defense attorney Anna Kees said that Brooks was “high” during the incident. She also said that the police officers who arrested him noticed that Brooks smelled of cannabis and had red glassy eyes. Kees also claimed that this whole incident wasn’t intentional as Brooks couldn’t bring himself to look at photos of the victims. Well, he could kill them quite easily but now the act of not being able to look at victims’ photos is a bit too much?
The counter-argument to this was very simple and logical. District Attorney Susan Opper said that all that Brooks had to do was stop and that even if he was high, he still committed many crimes.
On February 11, 2022, Brooks pleaded not guilty to all charges. Defense attorney Jeremy Perri played a few “unfair trial” cards here. He entered two motions where in one he requested for a different trial in a different county. The reason was that, according to him, Brooks was unlikely to receive a fair and impartial jury trial in grief-stricken Waukesha. He also cited the “ubiquitous” Waukesha Strong solidarity movement within the county.
The second motion requested a new judge for the case. There was no reason given for this request. Court Commissioner Costello denied the first motion but granted the second motion and reassigned Brooks’ case from Judge Michael Bohren to Chief Judge Jennifer Dorow. A month later, Chief Judge Dorow scheduled Brooks’s trial for October 3, 2022 at the Waukesha County Circuit Court.
And here’s where the weirdness begins. In a pre-trial hearing, Brooks requested to represent himself. Judge Dorow agreed. Now Brooks was without a lawyer and he was going to defend himself in court.
During proceedings, Brooks used arguments from the sovereign citizen movement. For the uninitiated, here’s a brief explanation of what sovereign citizen movement is all about:
Wikipedia says, The sovereign citizen movement (also SovCit movement or SovCits) is a loose grouping of litigants, activists, tax protesters, financial scheme promoters and conspiracy theorists, who claim to be answerable only to their particular interpretations of the common law and to not be subject to any government statutes or proceedings, unless they consent to them. The movement is American in origin and exists primarily in the United States, though it has expanded to other countries.
The adherents of the SovCit movement claim that courts do not have jurisdiction over them. So apparently, one can commit crimes and do whatever and then not consent to court proceedings. *Sigh*
Brooks declared himself a “sovereign citizen” and stated that he did not consent to being recognized by his name. His bizarre argument was that since the state of Wisconsin was an entity rather than a person, it could not file a claim against him.
For the record, Brooks isn’t the first criminal to make this argument in court. Many have tried to evade the law and court proceedings using the SovCit movement argument but obviously and rationally, none have succeeded before in criminal trials.
Judge Dorow ruled that Brooks was not allowed to argue that he was a sovereign citizen in court. She said that the defense was without merit. And he didn’t just stop at the SovCit stuff. During the trial, Brooks was removed from the courtroom multiple times after failing to comply with decorum. He engaged in several interruptions and backtalked and glared at the judge during his trial.
I urge you to watch this video by Law&Crime Network to see his bizarre behavior.
As a result of his repeated misbehavior, Brooks lost his chance to call further witnesses, including his mom on October 24, 2022. According to Judge Dorow, he had forfeited his right to call further witnesses and declared the evidentiary stage of the trial over. The closing arguments in the Darrell Brooks trial began October 25, and the jury deliberations began that same day as well.
On October 26, the jury deliberated for three hours and fifteen minutes. Brooks was found guilty of all the 76 charges on him. Out of the 76, 6 were counts of first-degree intentional homicide. Yes, like I said before, it was clear to the jury that this was intentional. The man didn’t stop but kept going and killed 6 people while injuring 62 others.
Thankfully, this time he wasn’t let loose and on November 16, 2022, he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences plus 1067 years in prison for the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack. Brooks will not walk this earth freely ever again. It’s an end to his crimes, to his violence, to his lies and to all the tragedies he would’ve caused in the future.
While the sentence was easy to give because of the magnitude of his crime, the trial was weird and quite unbelievable. Brooks made sure to act his emotions out along with slamming the judges and disrespecting the court.
If you have the time to watch the entire trial, I recommend watching it here on Law&Crime Network.
Brooks thought he would be “better served” if he represented himself. He thought he didn’t need any attorneys to defend him. Well, I’d say thankfully he didn’t want defense attorneys. His weird self-defense request dug his grave way sooner and the trial was over quickly because now, there was nobody with legal knowledge to help this “Sovereign Citizen” get a shorter sentence if possible. This was a blessing in disguise.
Someone like Brooks doesn’t really deserve to be back in the community, the same community he sucked the peace, happiness and literal life out of. He concluded a tragedy that will haunt the families of the victims forever. Even those involved in the case and the ones who witnessed what happened live at the scene on the day Brooks drove his car into people, will forever remember this sad case.
As much as this tragedy and Darrell Brooks’ cruelty is shocking and heartbreaking, the victims and their families’ strength and unity is heartwarming too. The tragedy shook them, it engulfed them in grief but it couldn’t break their spirit. And that’s how Wisconsin moves forward today — -with the belief that the worst is behind them and the culprit is spending his life in jail forever. Even when those who perished can never come back, there’s some solace in the fact that justice was served as deserved.
Thanks for reading! This time I got late in publishing this true crime story, but stay tuned for the next one. If you have any suggestions on what you’d like me to cover, feel free to let me know in the comments below.
