The good news is that this trial will likely be over very soon when Darrell Brooks is found guilty by a jury. The bad news is that today was another day of Brooks making a mockery of the court room and acting like a fool.
I wrongly assumed that today would be spent with closing arguments and then the jury would take over sometime this afternoon. What I didn’t know was that Judge Dorow had to read out more than 100 pages of instructions to the jury which wound up taking up the entire morning. Before she could even get started, Brooks was putting on a show. He was kicked out of the courtroom for the first time a little after 9 am. He then let the judge know he wanted to return to the courtroom.
Brooks waiving to get the judge's attention. Bailiffs says he wants to come back to the main courtroom.
Judge will allow him to come back. #DarrellBrooks #SovereignCitizen pic.twitter.com/sVVurfd6QP— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
He did return and immediately started arguing his sovereign citizen nonsense. The judge warned him not to do it before the jury and, of course, he ignored her and kept going. He was removed from the room again.
AND – He's out to the adjacent courtroom again…#DarrellBrooks #SovereignCitizen pic.twitter.com/b4JdroUkAI
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Around 10am the judge finally started reading the jury instructions. Meanwhile…
Periodically #DarrellBrooks waves his arms to get the judge's attention. #SovereignCitizen pic.twitter.com/ZbK8ZG6gkE
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
This continued until the lunch break at which point Brooks was allowed back into the main courtroom to hear closing arguments from the prosecutors. But as soon as he returns he’s back to arguing the same sovereign citizen stuff and he gets a warning.
Judge advises #DarrellBrooks that his conduct could forfeit his right to give a closing argument. #SovereignCitizen
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
By 2:30 he was out again.
HE'S OUT! #DarrellBrooks wouldn't stop and therefore the judge is having him removed to the other courtroom during the state's closing argument. #SovereignCitizen
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Brooks continued to protest during closing arguments.
He'll show her…..turning is back to the camera. pic.twitter.com/WJXf7hgBNX
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Closing arguments lasted about 45 minutes and mostly consisted of walking the jury through all the copious video evidence that Darrell Brooks was the person driving the red Ford that day. I’ll include the full video below but the presentation also included Power Point identifying every person Brooks is charged with injuring or killing.
The "green" are all those that #DarrellBrooks is charged with Recklessly Endangering their Safety. The 6 names in red are the deceased victims, he faces 6 counts of First-degree Intentional Homicide. pic.twitter.com/yIWyMgTDr8
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Video of parade shown (we have audio only), you hear Jingle Bell Rock being played. Opper tells jury families were enjoying a #WaukeshaChristmas parade. While that was happening, #DarrellBrooks is near the gas station, driving recklessly, he's enraged arguing with Erika. pic.twitter.com/tTIFguNIbK
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
She made a point of saying Brooks’ intent could be found in his actions that day.
"That's intent! No reasonable person is going to come across a group of teenagers playing band instruments, drive over them, and keep going." – State closing argument.
Video played of people screaming as the suv is plowing through/over people. #DarrellBrooks #WaukeshaParade pic.twitter.com/TW9Q0FjYmI
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
"Remarkably amazing that this damage was caused by human beings. Intent." – Prosecution closing argument. #DarrellBrooks #WaukeshaParade pic.twitter.com/nNg2jNEVJ4
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
She noted the key to the car was in Brooks’ pocket when he was arrested.
The key to the suv found in #DarrellBrooks pocket. pic.twitter.com/PYFnbd6c8P
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Opper also made a point of refuting Brooks’ attempts to deny (as he’s done repeatedly) that he is Darrell Brooks. She notes that when he was arrested he had his driver’s license in his pocket. She summed it up this way.
"It's time for #DarrellBrooks to stop running…to stop lying, to start being accountable for his actions. Darrell Brooks cowardly rammed his way through this parade..violently killing and injuring so many people." – Opper closing argument. pic.twitter.com/wAgdl4pz8Z
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Opper then sat down and showed one more video (it wasn’t shown on the livestream, only the jury could see it. That final video showed some of the carnage from that day. You could hear people sobbing in the courtroom.
Sobbing, gasping coming from the gallery in the courtroom while the video of the carnage is being played. #DarrellBrooks #WaukeshaParade pic.twitter.com/4WpGZcNeuH
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Darrell Brooks response to this was repeated attempts to suggest that the jury could choose to nullify the law, i.e. vote to free him despite the fact that he’s guilty. He did this shortly after the prosecutor’s closing argument finished.
As the jury was exiting for a break:
Brooks: "Am I muted?"
Judge: "No"
Brooks: "The jury should know they can nullify.."
Judge: "You are muted now!"#DarrellBrooks #WaukeshaParade #SovereignCitizen pic.twitter.com/e5uXFAJL3A— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
After a break, Brooks was allowed back into the courtroom to give his closing argument. He again attempted to put forth jury nullification even after the judge pointed out he was not allowed to argue that.
"Did you inform them they can nullify the law?" #DarrellBrooks says that two different times in front of the jury.
Judge sends jury out. pic.twitter.com/64Oui97dhX
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
"Ah! They have the POWER!" #DarrellBrooks yells. pic.twitter.com/GjQilK99LU
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
And once he finally started his closing, he went right to nullification.
JURY NULLIFICATION: "The fact that you.. have the POWER..you and you alone decide what is truth and what isn't truth. You should be informed that you have the power to nullify any law you don't agree with."#DarrellBrooks closing argument. #SovereignCitizen #WaukeshaParade pic.twitter.com/bmBs2OAa9L
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Darrell Brooks is actually trying to convince jurors that he wasn't in a rage that day when they've seen him rage with their own eyes.
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
He went on to argue that the focus on the “alleged offender” was taking the focus off the victims.
WOW!
"Makes me wonder, does the D.A. even care about those people?"#DarrellBrooks he's been praying for those families….and it shouldn't be lost that there were people that lost their lives. pic.twitter.com/nahiBmKQFS
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
I don’t think Darrell Brooks is mentally ill but his inability to take responsibility seems almost pathological. Here he’s trying to take credit for honking his horn at the people he ran over. And then he switches immediately to blaming the car itself.
#DarrellBrooks made a claim that the red Ford SUV that went through the Waukesha parade massacre was recalled. pic.twitter.com/XFGYqXHecg
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) October 25, 2022
His mouth is saying one thing but his whole demeanor is saying something else.
"I'm happy to say that my conscious is clear." – #DarrellBrooks pic.twitter.com/Quy16ahNby
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
It does sound like he said “conscious” but I think he meant conscience.
"I'm a lot of things. A murderer is not one of them." #DarrellBrooks
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
That last statement be technically true for a few more hours, but not much longer than that. The case can’t immediately go to the jury because Judge Dorow has another 20+ pages of jury instructions she has to read to them. Once they are allowed to deliberate I’m guessing this will be over in about 20 minutes but even then there is still a lot of paperwork to fill out.
There are 76 verdict forms to fill out. https://t.co/roXDBIxz6d
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Unfortunately, I can’t cue this up but you can scroll about 2/3 of the way through to the start of the prosecution’s closing arguments.
Update: The jury is deliberating.
BREAKING: Jury deliberations began at 6:24pm CT/7:24 pm ET. #DarrellBrooks #WaukeshaParade pic.twitter.com/jAJjaA3CvW
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Meanwhile, Brooks is being flirty with Judge Dorow.
He does this weird smiley, flirty thing from time to time with the judge. He asks how he can be charged with 61 injured parties when they didn't all testify. Judge says she can't explain the law to him.
He cocks his head, smiles, "I got a point though." #DarrellBrooks pic.twitter.com/DiUUOCbomT— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
Another example from about an hour later. Sorry, man, she’s out of your league.
I Can't….
He has lost his mind…
WATCH: #DarrellBrooks. pic.twitter.com/x4xWuMfQxr
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 26, 2022
Meanwhile, there’s some court-related drams taking place as someone on Reddit has written something claiming they are a juror in the trial.
Let's think this through…..this person claiming to be a juror in the #DarrellBrooks trial talks about subject matter jurisdiction and jury nullification. Hmmmm pic.twitter.com/repSSjeD95
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 25, 2022
"Mr. Brooks has clearly not been given the chance to plead his case in court. He has been silenced and mocked at almost every turn. While he may be a bit loud or crass at times, I still believe his side deserves to be heard." Reddit user claiming to be on the jury #DarrellBrooks pic.twitter.com/vfoqeOd11m
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 26, 2022
Judge says there's a full investigation underway by the sheriff's department and there is no evidence showing the Reddit poster is a juror. #DarrellBrooks pic.twitter.com/32gLcr69CK
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 26, 2022
Meanwhile, the jury is still deliberating and has asked to see a few exhibits.
The final exhibit the jurors are requesting is a video that shows the Dancing Grannies. The judge will allow them to watch it twice.#DarrellBrooks pic.twitter.com/pDNkJR87Qx
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 26, 2022
Update: It was a prank.
NEW: The Reddit post of the alleged jurors has JUST BEEN EDITED to read: "This was all a prank, I didn't think this would blow up like this. We are sorry. Love, rdrama." #DarrellBrooks pic.twitter.com/7LThZUIrA9
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 26, 2022
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