The man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens when he drove his SUV through a Wisconsin Christmas parade last year gave a tearful opening statement on Thursday as he tried to defend himself at the trial.
Darrell Brooks faced 76 charges, including six homicide counts for allegedly killing six people in the massacre that took place on 21 November last year in Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb.
During his opening statement, which Mr Brooks claimed was from the heart and not rehearsed, he said what happened at the parade was a “tragedy”. He added: “It’s easy to look at the magnitude of something like this and form opinions. I think it’s easy to disregard a lot of factors. It’s easy to forget the other side of the coin.”
He continued, teary-eyed, “there’s been a lot of words thrown out there about the alleged, a lot of speculation, a lot of ridicule. Words like ‘demon.’ Words like ‘molester’”.
Mr Brooks, 40, said that it was “important that you see me for who I am [as he removed the mask from his face]. No mask. For who I am. This is the moment for that. I pray that your eyes and ears remain as open as possible”.
He then broke down.
Law enforcement officials said that last year when the tragedy took place, Mr Brooks was assaulting his ex-girlfriend in his SUV minutes before he drove into the parade.
Earlier this year, Mr Brooks’s then-attorney, Anna Kees, had suggested that he was high during the incident, noting that officers who arrested him noticed he smelled of marijuana and his eyes were red and glassy.
She maintained that he couldn’t turn off the parade route because the side streets were barricaded and full of spectators. She noted, too, that he told detectives that he didn’t mean to kill anyone and couldn’t bring himself to look when detectives showed him photos of the carnage.
However, this month, Mr Brooks said that he will represent himself and dismissed his public defenders.
