Waukesha parade massacre suspect Darrell Brooks has pled “not guilty” to killing six people and wounding dozens of others when he allegedly plowed an SUV through crowds of Christmas parade attendees in November of last year.
“We’d waive formal reading, and we can enter pleas of not guilty this morning,” Brooks’ defense attorney Jeremy Perri said last Friday.
Brooks’ attorney also requested for a change of venue or for jurors to be sequestered and selected from another county, arguing that the intensity of the parade coverage has already turned the city of Waukesha against him.
“An impartial trial cannot be held in Waukesha County,” the attorneys argued.
According to WISN Channel 12, prosecutors are “expected to rely heavily on cellphone video for evidence they say shows Brooks intentionally drove through the crowded Christmas parade on Nov. 21, and never once stopped to help.”
On the afternoon of Sunday, November 21, suspect Darrell E. Brooks Jr. allegedly plowed an SUV into crowds of people attending the Waukesha Christmas parade. According to authorities, Brooks’ alleged act was “intentional” and occurred shortly after a domestic disturbance incident. Police were not in pursuit of the suspect at the time of the alleged attack, contrary to early reports.
He has since been charged with six counts of intentional homicide, including one eight-year-old boy, with a bail set for $5 million, a noteworthy amount, given that he was released from prison just days prior to the attack on a $1000 bond despite his lengthy, multi-state criminal history going back to 1999. Fox News noted:
Brooks’ violent past stretches back to 1999 when he was accused and later convicted of aggravated battery with intent to cause great bodily harm. Most recently, he allegedly ran a woman over and punched her in the face on Nov. 2. He has an outstanding warrant in Nevada for skipping bail on a sex crime charge.
The media and authorities still have not provided a motive detailing why Darrell E. Brooks, who expressed views sympathetic to Black Lives Matter on social media and penned an anti-Trump rap song, allegedly carried out the attack.
In a lengthy open letter, Brooks’ mother, Dawn Woods, said that he came from a “loving Christian family and is the grandson of ministers,” alleging that he has “suffered from mental health issues since he was very young.”
“Mental illness is not cheap to treat but what’s more important dollars spent on treatment and resources or lives lost,” she wrote. “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.”
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