Judge Refuses to Delay Trial in Christmas Parade Deaths

Darrell Brooks Jr. faces more than 80 charges
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 12, 2022 7:05 PM CST
Updated Apr 4, 2022 5:06 PM CDT
Prosecutors Add 71 Counts in Parade Deaths
Judge Jennifer R. Dorow presides over a hearing for Darrell Brooks, Monday, April 4, 2022, in Waukesha County Court in Waukesha, Wis.   (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Update: A judge refused Monday to delay the trial for a man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens more when he allegedly drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow said it's important to resolve the case as quickly as possible, the AP reports. Darrell Brooks Jr. faces more than 80 charges in connection with the incident in Waukesha in Nov. 2021, including six homicide counts. His trial is scheduled to start Oct. 3 . His attorneys, public defenders Anna Kees and Jeremy Perri, filed a motion last week seeking to push the proceedings back until at least March 2023, saying they needed more time to study evidence and interview witnesses. Our story from Jan. 12 follows:

Prosecutors added dozens of charges Wednesday against a man accused of driving his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee last year, killing six people and injuring dozens. Investigators say Darrell Brooks Jr. drove his Ford Escape into the parade in downtown Waukesha on Nov. 21, and prosecutors charged him two days later with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide. They added 71 additional counts Wednesday, including multiple counts of reckless endangerment, hit-and-run involving death, bail jumping, and battery. Brooks' attorney, Jeremy Perri, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment, the AP reports.

Brooks was arrested in Milwaukee County on Nov. 5, accused of running over the mother of his child with his SUV. He walked out of jail two days before the parade after posting $1,000 bail. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm has taken intense criticism for allowing his office to recommend Brooks' bail be set at $1,000. Chisholm has said a young, overworked assistant prosecutor recommended that level of bail so she could move on to other cases. She never saw an evaluation of the dangers Brooks could pose to the community, because the assessment was never entered into the district attorney's office's computer system, Chisholm told county officials in December.

(More Waukesha parade stories.)

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