Brooks has been representing himself throughout this roughly three-week trial. He tearfully requested jurors throughout his 50-minute closing argument to think about whether or not the automotive may have malfunctioned throughout the incident final November and the results the trial — together with the unfavourable press — has had on his household.
“What if the car could not cease due to malfunction? What if the motive force of the car was unable to cease the car? Due to that truth, what if the motive force might have panicked? Does that make the motive force in a rage and intent on killing individuals?” Brooks requested, claiming there was a recall on the car he drove that day. Waukesha County Decide Jennifer Dorow struck these feedback from the file.
“I’ve by no means heard of somebody attempting to deliberately harm somebody whereas making an attempt to blow their horn whereas making an attempt to alert individuals of their presence,” Brooks mentioned.
The defendant went on to repeatedly allege there had been “misconceptions” and “lies” informed about him throughout the trial. After saying that his conscience is evident and that he had made peace with God, Brooks spent a lot of the ultimate 10 minutes of his closing remarks repeatedly telling the jury to be at peace with their verdict and to not have any regrets.
“No matter you resolve, be sure to your self can reside with it. That is the magnitude of the facility that you’ve,” Brooks mentioned. “Be at peace with what you resolve.”
Waukesha County District Legal professional Susan Opper rebutted Brooks’ claims, saying he desires jurors to care about his household when different households on this tragedy won’t ever be capable to see their family members once more.
“There are 68 victims on this case, people. That is not an accident,” Opper mentioned.
Regardless of Brooks’ claims of him not deliberately hanging individuals with an SUV, Opper repeatedly informed the jury there’s overwhelming proof exhibiting Brooks was totally conscious of his actions when he drove his SUV by a crowd of tons of of individuals.
“He reached speeds of roughly 30 mph. That is intentional. He plowed by 68 completely different individuals, 68. How will you hit one and hold going? How will you hit two and hold going?” Opper requested.
Opper additionally informed jurors to not be distracted of their deliberations by the conduct of Brooks throughout the trial.
“You could not, not, not take into account something about Darrell Brooks apart from his conduct in downtown Waukesha on the night of November 21, 2021,” Opper informed the jury. “Nothing he is finished earlier than that, nothing he is finished since that. Once you return to that deliberation room, please obey Decide Dorow. Confine your feedback to his conduct on November 21.”
Decide Dorow has repeatedly eliminated Brooks from the courtroom for his outbursts and positioned him in a close-by courtroom, the place he can talk through a monitor and microphone which is most frequently muted.
CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
