Grieving relatives of those injured and killed when a man drove through a Christmas parade near Milwaukee last year, killing 6 and injuring 62, confronted the driver on Tuesday during the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing.
The driver, Darrell Brooks, 40, was seen rolling his eyes during the impact statements and had to be sent from the courtroom by Judge Jennifer Dorow after repeatedly interrupting proceedings.
Brooks faces life in prison after a circuit court jury in Waukesha, Wisconsin, found him guilty on Oct. 26 of 76 criminal charges, including six counts of intentional homicide.
The sentencing hearing began on Tuesday morning when relatives of those killed and injured along with victims who survived the incident told the court about their loved ones and confronted Brooks.
Emotional Jessica Gonzalez illustrated the chaos of trying to find her son during the Waukesha parade attack – ‘I heard mom from so many directions, but it wasn’t him,’ she said
Paradegoer Jackson Peck Love described the effects Brooks’ actions had on him and his family, including serious injuries and being unable to work for weeks
Judge Jennifer Dorow has repeatedly sent Brooks from the courtroom as he interrupts proceedings by objecting and loudly talking
Jessica Gonzalez described hearing the ‘gasps and screams’ from Brooks’ rampage and said she ‘searched frantically’ for her son.
‘I heard mom from so many directions, but it wasn’t him,’ Gonzalez said. She eventually found her son, who had been huddled with his baseball team.
Gonzalez’s son was on Jackson Sparks baseball team, who was killed in the attack.
Sheri Sparks, Jackson’s mom, said ‘Our family is forever changed. We are hurt, angry, traumatized and broken.’ Her other son, Tucker, was also injured.
‘I feel gutted and broken. It hurts to breathe sometimes,’ she added through tears. ‘This man not only took Jackson away from our family, he violently ripped Jackson out of our lives.’
Jackson Sparks was the youngest person killed in the attack. The oldest was 81 years old. More than 60 others were injured, including at least 18 children.
Paradegoer Jackson Peck Love, who was one of those hit by Brooks’ SUV, described the effects this had on him and his family, including serious injuries and being unable to work for weeks.
He slammed Brooks for showing ‘no remorse whatsoever’ – and Brooks was seen rolling his eyes to the ceiling as Mr. Love read his statement to the court.
‘I want you to reflect that you almost took my life,’ he said.
‘Because of your actions, my wife cannot get the images out of her mind of what you have done. You have forever scarred her.
‘Because of your actions my wife had to hand over my children to our community friends to check on my lifeless body.’
Among the casualties were members of a dance troupe known as the Dancing Grannies.
David Sorenson, the husband of one Dancing Granny who died, Virginia Sorenson, gave an emotional speech during the hearing, and called Brooks an ‘very, very evil animal.’
One of the sons of victim Lee Owens, who previously shouted obscenities at Brooks, said ‘I can only hope they lock you away someplace so deep that the rats chew on your fingers at night.’
Over the course of the trial, prosecutors have laid bare how Brooks deliberately drove his SUV through police barricades and into the crowds participating in the annual parade in the city of Waukesha, about 15 miles west of downtown Milwaukee on November 21.
He was out on bail from a domestic abuse charge at the time of the attack, and was arrested near the scene.
Darrell Brooks poses for a booking photograph provided by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office after being taken into custody for driving into a parade with his car
Once in another courtroom, Darrell Brooks, 40, appeared without his shirt off, and repeatedly kept his back to the camera
Brooks also stuffed a laminated sign reading ‘objection’ into the waistband of his orange prison attire after the judge muted his microphone so she could read off his 77 charges without interruption
Brooks has been in custody ever since and had pleaded not guilty to the charges, announcing in court that his ‘conscience is clear’ and suggested the deaths were ‘God’s will’ even as he wiped away a tear.
Brooks had elected to represent himself in his trial, but his repeated interruptions, outbursts and other erratic behavior eventually led Judge Jennifer Dorow to remove him from the courtroom, later admitting she’s frightened of him.
He has taken his shirt off in a courtroom, and also prepared a laminated paper that said ‘objection’ on it that he revealed after the judge cut his mic off.
He had tried to argue in court that his SUV had been recalled due to a throttle malfunction, saying he had no intention of hurting anyone and noting he sounded the vehicle’s horn as he drove through the crowd.
Then when District Attorney Sue Opper objected, noting a Wisconsin State Patrol vehicle inspector testified earlier in the trial that the vehicle was in good working order, including the brakes, he suggested the driver might have panicked.
He didn’t quite acknowledge at that point that he was the driver, but said that at night when he’s alone in his cell he often asks questions how ‘this’ happened.
Still, he said, he never asked himself whether ‘this’ was intentional, saying he knows it wasn’t. He didn’t explain what he was referring to by using the word ‘this.’