Darrell Brooks motions hearing; tied to appeal following conviction
WAUKESHA, Wis. - A motions hearing was held in Waukesha County on Friday, Nov. 18 for Darrell Brooks. It was associated with an appeal following his conviction on 76 charges associated with the Waukesha Christmas parade attack.
Brooks wrote a letter the day he was convicted. It read, "I plan to appeal my conviction." Judge Jennifer Dorow said Brooks filed all the necessary paperwork. The court just could not find it on Friday.
Darrell Brooks
In total, Brooks was only in court for about 15 minutes. He entered the courtroom in a suicide vest and chains. Brooks said he is under suicide watch at the jail. He said guards took all of his documents from his cell because they said he is suicidal.
"They said this was procedural protocol. It wasn’t because I demonstrated any suicidal behaviors or even said that – I was told it was just protocol," Brooks said.
FOX6 News reached out to a spokesman for the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department to confirm that. We did not hear back.
Judge Jennifer Dorow
Brooks told a different story the day after the Waukesha Christmas parade attack – when he was speaking with investigators.
"I’m not going to spend my life in prison. I’ll die first," Brooks said on Nov. 22, 2021.
Brooks' conviction
Judge Dorow sentenced Brooks, who killed six people and injured many others when he drove his SUV through the Waukesha Christmas parade, to life in prison with no chance of release Wednesday, rejecting arguments from him and his family that mental illness drove him to do it. Dorow sentenced Brooks on 76 charges, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and 61 counts of reckless endangerment.
Darrell Brooks
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Each homicide count carried a mandatory life sentence, and the only uncertainty Wednesday was whether Dorow would allow Brooks to serve any portion of those sentences on extended supervision in the community, the state’s current version of parole. She did not. Wisconsin doesn’t have the death penalty.
Associated Press contributed to this story.