Darrell Brooks sentenced to life in prison for 2021 Waukesha Christmas parade attack - CNN

CNN  — 

Darrell Brooks was sentenced to beingness successful situation without the anticipation of extended supervision connected Wednesday for driving his SUV into a assemblage of Christmas parade attendees successful Waukesha, Wisconsin, past November, killing six radical and wounding dozens more.

Brooks,40, was recovered blameworthy by a assemblage past period connected each 76 counts stemming from the 2021 Christmas parade attack, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide with the usage of a unsafe weapon.

On Wednesday, pursuing 2 days of impassioned statements from victims and household members, Judge Jennifer Dorow imposed the statutorily mandated sentence, ordering Brooks to service a beingness condemnation without the anticipation of extended supervision for each of the six counts of first-degree intentional homicide with the usage of a unsafe weapon. The sentences volition tally consecutively, the justice said.

“You person perfectly nary remorse for thing that you do. You person nary empathy for anyone,” Dorow told Brooks. “Frankly, Mr. Brooks, nary 1 is harmless from you,” she continued.

Brooks spoke for much than 2 hours Wednesday afternoon, telling the tribunal that helium excessively struggles to recognize wherefore this tragic incidental happened.

“That’s a question I conflict with myself,” Brooks said. “The why, the how. How could beingness ever get this acold distant from what it should be? Regardless of what a batch of radical whitethorn deliberation astir me, astir who I am, astir my family, astir my beliefs, I cognize who I am. God knows who I am. And I don’t person immoderate words of anger,” helium continued.

During his remarks, Brooks, who represented himself, lone erstwhile apologized to the victims and the assemblage of Waukesha, saying that nary 1 tin spot the remorse helium feels.

“I privation you to cognize not lone americium I atrocious for what happened, I’m atrocious that you could not spot what’s genuinely successful my heart. That you cannot spot the remorse that I have,” Brooks told the court. “That you cannot number each the tears that I person dropped successful this year.”

Dorow besides spoke astatine magnitude connected Brooks’ intelligence health, a taxable his household members spoke astir during the hearing.

“It is my sentiment that intelligence wellness issues did not origin him to bash what helium did connected November 21 of 2021. And frankly did not play a role,” the justice said, citing passages and opinions from 4 intelligence wellness evaluations of Brooks from doctors.

Prosecutors asked the justice Tuesday to condemnation Brooks to the maximum condemnation for each convictions stemming from the attack.

“He deserves the implicit maximum condemnation connected each counts, consecutive,” Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper told the judge.

“You saw the videos. This wasn’t him plowing into 1 ample radical of 50 radical astatine 1 clip and hitting them. It was linear. He deed one, kept going. Hit two, kept going. Hit three, kept going. All the mode down the street. That’s consecutive sentences, your honor. That’s intentional, willful, volitional behaviour that warrants consecutive sentences stacked 1 connected apical of the different conscionable arsenic helium stacked victims up arsenic helium drove down the roadworthy successful implicit disregard for immoderate different idiosyncratic whatsoever,” Opper continued.

The assemblage besides recovered Brooks blameworthy connected 61 counts of recklessly endangering information with the usage of a unsafe weapon, six counts of fatal deed and run, 2 counts of felony bail jumping and 1 number of misdemeanor home battery.

Victims and their loved ones were fixed the accidental to talk Tuesday astir what they person mislaid and endured.

Among the much than 40 radical delivering statements to the tribunal were relatives of Virginia Sorenson, portion of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies troupe that mislaid 3 of its members successful the attack, WTMJ reported.

“I volition proceed to conflict with the loss,” said Sorenson’s husband, David. “I americium fortunate to person household attraction for maine and wrapper maine successful emotion truthful that I tin commencement to glue unneurotic the shattered beingness I present have.”

While immoderate victims addressing the tribunal said thaey were consenting to forgive the killer, Sorenson told the judge, “I inquire you to nonstop this evil carnal to beingness successful situation with nary accidental for parole for the callous execution of my wife,” WTMJ reported.

Alisha Kulich, the girl of 52-year-old Jane Kulich, who was killed attending the parade, lamented that her parent volition miss truthful galore milestones successful her and her siblings’ – and Jane Kulich’s grandchildren’s – lives, the presumption reported.

“She won’t get to spot maine accidental my vows oregon get joined to the emotion of my life,” Alisha Kulich said. “And she won’t ever get to spot my aboriginal kids, and they won’t cognize what it’s similar to person a grandma who spoils them.”

In summation to Sorenson and Kulich, Jackson Sparks, 8, Tamara Durand, 52, Lee Owen, 71, and Wilhelm Hospel, 81, were killed. Sparks was walking with his shot squad during the parade. Durand and Owen were Dancing Grannies, on with Sorenson, and Hospel was the hubby of a Dancing Granny who survived the attack.

Prosecutors provided grounds showing Brooks intentionally drove done the crowd. In a transgression complaint, an serviceman who stepped successful beforehand of Brooks’ vehicle, ordering him to stop, said Brooks looked “directly astatine him, and it appeared helium had nary emotion connected his face.”

The SUV passed the serviceman and accelerated, stopped astatine an intersection, past accelerated again – tires squealing – and began zig-zagging arsenic “bodies and objects” flew, the ailment said, adding that different witnesser said Brooks was trying to debar vehicles, alternatively than people, and made nary effort to dilatory down.

In a tearful closing argument, Brooks posited what would beryllium the absorption if the car malfunctioned and was incapable to halt and the operator panicked. He claimed determination was a callback connected the conveyance helium was driving, but Dorow struck the remarks from the record.

“He reached speeds of astir 30 miles per hour. That’s intentional,” the territory lawyer said. “He plowed done 68 antithetic people. Sixty-eight. How tin you deed 1 and support going? How tin you deed 2 and support going?”

A assemblage besides handed down blameworthy verdicts connected 61 counts of recklessly endangering information with the usage of a unsafe weapon, six counts of fatal deed and run, 2 counts of felony bail jumping and 1 number of misdemeanor home battery. It was a cleanable expanse for the prosecution.

In June, Brooks entered a plea of not blameworthy by crushed of insanity, but his nationalist defenders withdrew it successful September. They past withdrew themselves from representing Brooks, and Dorow permitted Brooks to correspond himself.

He was belligerent and disruptive astatine trial, often speaking implicit Dorow to marque outlandish arguments. Dorow astatine times enactment Brooks successful a abstracted room, wherever helium could instrumentality portion via a show and was muted unless it was his crook to speak. Brooks was doubly sent to that country Wednesday aft talking implicit the justice arsenic she demanded helium stop.

Brooks’ mother, Dawn Woods, expressed interest that her lad was not susceptible of defending himself and asked the justice not to let it, WTMJ reported.

“He is not unchangeable mentally capable to afloat recognize the large mistake helium is making by wanting to correspond himself,” she said, according to WTMJ. “That unsocial should beryllium capable to spot he’s not susceptible of being his ain attorney.”

Brooks had been charged successful a home maltreatment lawsuit and was released from jailhouse connected $1,000 bail little than 2 weeks earlier the parade. He was accused of moving implicit a pistillate who claimed to beryllium the parent of his child, according to tribunal documents. Prosecutors aboriginal acknowledged the bail acceptable was “inappropriately low.”