The courtroom outbursts of Waukesha Christmas parade massacre suspect Darrell Brooks, 40, left the trial judge admitting she was “scared” when he stared her down.
Brooks — who is representing himself in his own trial — was heard interrupting a prosecutor and slamming his hands on the table before staring down Judge Jennifer Dorow in the courtroom on Friday. The outburst came as the prosecutor was about to read Brooks’ lengthy criminal conviction history.
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“I need to take a break. This man right now is having a stare-down with me. It’s very disrespectful. He pounded his fist. Frankly, it makes me scared,” Dorow told the court.
He was repeatedly removed to another courtroom to participate virtually in an effort to minimize his outbursts on Friday, USA Today reported.
Brooks is accused of driving a Ford Escape through a crowd at a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six people, including a six-year-old and an 81-year-old, and injuring over 60 people on November 21, 2021. He is facing six felony counts of first-degree homicide and over 77 other charges in relation to the massacre. The attack occurred 15 minutes after he had allegedly assaulted his girlfriend.
Darrell Brooks (C) appears at Waukesha County Court on November 23, 2021, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Brooks is charged with killing five people and injuring nearly 50 after driving through a Christmas parade with his sport utility vehicle on November 21. (Photo by Mark Hoffman-Pool/Getty Images)
The trial has been marred by Brooks’ bizarre behavior in the courtroom, including crying while presenting his opening defense to the jury on Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The prosecutors had just rested their case.
“There’s always two sides to every story,” Brooks said while weeping. “There’s only been one side told to this story.” He then claimed the attack was not “planned” or “intentional.”
During Friday’s proceedings, Brooks accused the prosecution of coaching his own witnesses, to which Dorow responded that his accusation “had absolutely no basis in fact,” USA Today noted.
Brooks’ disruptive courtroom behavior goes back to a pre-trial hearing in August where he yelled at Judge Dorow before being removed from the courtroom.
Brooks intends to call his mother as a witness on Monday. The trial is set to end on October 28.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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