MILWAUKEE — From the string of guilty verdicts being read Wednesday to the consummate patience of Judge Jennifer Dorow over the past three weeks, John Gross, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said the Darrell Brooks Jr. trial had no shortage of memorable moments.
“It’s hard to pick one,” Gross told Spectrum News 1. “From Mr. Brooks disrobing at the start of trial to him tearing up during his arguments to perhaps the one thing that’s most impactful about the trial is the one thing that the public didn’t see — some of those videos of what actually occurred, because they were too horrific to show. So just a remarkable trial from beginning to end.”
In the end, the jury found Brooks guilty of all 76 charges against him, a conclusion to a trial with no shortage of twists and turns. Gross said he didn’t find that surprising in the least.
“I think it was expected,” Gross said. “The prosecution’s case was overwhelming in the evidence they had, the eyewitness identifications, the DNA, the vehicle itself and the recovery of that vehicle, so I certainly didn’t expect the jury to take that much time with their deliberations.”
The jury began deliberating Tuesday night for about 90 minutes before they went home. They began again at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and ended with a verdict at 9:47 a.m. In total, deliberations took just under 3 hours.
By the end, Brooks was found guilty of 6 first-degree intentional counts, 61 first-degree recklessly endangering safety counts, 6 hit and run involving death counts, 2 counts of bail jumping and 1 count of battery.
Watch the full interview above.