Brooks attorney asks for appeal extension of Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy conviction
WAUKESHA - Darrell Brooks, the Milwaukee man convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing six people and injuring dozens more when he drove his SUV through the middle of the 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade, has continued his quest to appeal his case.
But the process has moved slowly for several reasons, and, for the second time since Brooks signaled his intention to challenge his 2022 conviction in what became known as the Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy, his attorney has asked for an extension of an appeal deadline.
Michael Covey, the Madison lawyer whom Brooks has retained to legally process his appeal, filed the extension motion Friday with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, at least signaling Brooks will continue to seek relief from, or overturn, his conviction on 76 criminal counts stemming from the parade attack on Nov. 21, 2021.
Brooks, now 42, is serving six consecutive life sentences plus 1,200 years for six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety, six counts of hit-and-run causing death, two counts of bail jumping and one misdemeanor count of battery.
Following the October 2022 trial and sentencing the following month, Brooks legally notified the court of his intent to appeal. Though the potential basis for his appeal isn't included in Covey's motion filing, statements attributed to Brooks at that time suggested he would challenge the court's determination that he was legally competent to represent himself at the trial, a decision he made just days before it began after withdrawing his insanity defense plea.
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel ahead of the extension motion, Covey said he supports Brooks' appeal efforts, but his own workload, including a two-week homicide defense case in late April, limited his ability to finalize the work that must be done before he can formally file a notice of appeal. The deadline, extended Feb. 1 after a similar motion was granted, was Friday.
He requested that the appellate court grant him an extension to June 28.
The notice of appeal technically isn't a full appellate brief that spells out the basis for the appeal, Covey clarified. "It's just a document saying that we found grounds for appeal and are moving forward," he said.
Covey, part of the two-attorney Chirafisi Law Office in Madison, acknowledged the process to formulate the appeal has been time consuming, including obtaining and reading hundreds of pages of transcripts from the four-week trial. The process of obtaining the transcripts took almost a full year, he added.
His next step will be to meet with Brooks in person "to go over everything," potentially culminating in another filing that sets the appeal in motion. His goal would be to file the appellate brief sometime this summer.
"With Darrell Brooks, I'm working a little extra overtime because I'm fully aware that, though every single case is important, this one really has touched a lot of people and really affects the public interest," he said.
Covey said extensions for potential appeals are common.
Waukesha County District Attorney Sue Opper, who served as lead prosecutor during the October 2022 trial, concurred and had little to say about the prospect of the appeal itself.
"In my experience, it is very routine for appellate attorneys to request an extension and very routine for the court to grant the request," Opper said.
Once an appellate brief is filed, the Court of Appeals must decide if the case warrants acceptance. If the case is accepted on its merits, the appellate court must decide if it will be decided in a summary disposition, whether briefs will be submitted either with or without oral arguments, or whether the case should be certified to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for consideration.
Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at james.riccioli@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brooks still considering Waukesha Christmas Parade conviction appeal
