Waukesha massacre suspect: I'm feeling "dehumanized," you know

Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool

Tell us you don’t have effective counsel without telling us you don’t have effective counsel. No lawyer would advise Darrell Brooks to speak with the media after being charged with the murder of six people and wounding of dozens of others in his car attack on a Christmas parade. And even an incompetent first-year law student would likely be smart enough to tell Brooks not to paint himself as the victim in a media interview:

Advertisement

Darrell Brooks Jr. has spent the last 10 days locked up in a Wisconsin jail cell after allegedly mowing through the barricades and into revelers at the Waukesha Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring 62.

Now he feels “dehumanized,” he told Fox News Digital Wednesday in his first remarks to the media, seemingly surprised that he had visitors.

“I just feel like I’m being monster – demonized,” Brooks, 39, said during a brief video visit in Waukesha County Jail – a stone’s throw from where tragedy struck over a week earlier. …

Not even his mother has dropped by, he said. Earlier in the day, she released a statement on behalf of the family decrying Wisconsin’s criminal justice system for failing her son, a longtime felon with a 50-page rap sheet detailing domestic violence, firearms, drugs and other convictions in Wisconsin, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

How did Fox News Digital even get this interview? Did they just show up to the jail and ask for Brooks? It certainly appears that way, given his “surprised” appearance at their visit.

Brooks’ mother, who bailed him out prior to the murders, issued a statement that claimed her son had a serious mental illness and that the system had “failed” him:

Advertisement

Meanwhile, FOX6 News has learned Brooks was driving with a suspended license – and the SUV used in both attacks is owned by his mother, Dawn Woods. She is also the one who bailed him out the first time.

Multiple efforts to speak with Woods have been unsuccessful. But according to published reports, Woods sent a letter to some media outlets asking for space while also giving her condolences to the families of those killed and injured. Woods expressed sadness, saying her family’s hearts are “torn to pieces” over what happened. She said her son suffered from mental illness all his life. Woods went on to say the system is broken. She said she is not making excuses, but her family believes what happened was a result of her son “not having the help and resources he needed.”

That’s not going to fly with the public, either. If the mother knew this and her son’s history, why did she bail him out? Why did she apparently allow her son to drive her car even after he’d used it to attack his girlfriend?

That raises even more questions for the district attorney’s office, however. According to a Fox 6 report two days ago and a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel report today, they knew that Brooks had “a serious persistent illness” for which he was not receiving treatment when they set his bail at $1000 after the first car attack:

Advertisement

Brooks was arrested in Milwaukee County after police say he punched and ran over a former girlfriend on Nov. 2.

Before his initial appearance on Nov. 5, he was evaluated by JusticePoint, the agency that contracts with Milwaukee County to provide pretrial screening and monitoring services. It conducted a Pretrial Risk Assessment Report on Brooks on Nov. 5. …

Police reports from the Nov. 2 incident indicate Brooks suffers from mental health issues for which he is supposed to be taking medication. The exact diagnosis was redacted in the reports, obtained last week by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The PSA also flagged Brooks as a risk to commit a new violent crime. That factor is listed as either a yes or a no, and is not part of the other color scale matrix.

The grid goes from light green (low risk) in one corner, to red (higher risk) in the other corner.

Brooks landed in the red zone, yet his bail was set at $1,000, and he was ordered to have the highest level of supervision by JusticePoint if he made bail.

Advertisement

How in the world does the DA’s office concede any bail for a suspect with these factors in play, let alone the minimal $1000 they didn’t bother to challenge? Brooks isn’t the only party with incompetent counsel … or cognitive issues either, it seems.

As far as being a “dehumanized … monster,” Brooks better get used to that treatment. He earned it when he heartlessly drove over dozens of people in a parade. And whoever’s representing Brooks had better get a handle on his jail-visitor access, too.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement