What's next for Darrell Brooks now that he has been found guilty on all counts in the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack?
Waukesha exhaled Wednesday after a jury returned 76 guilty verdicts against Darrell Brooks Jr. in the Christmas parade attack last year. Blue light bathed the city that night and since, symbolizing Waukesha Strong, the community's collective self-support as it moves past the tragedy.
But it's not there yet. Brooks' trial lasted more than three weeks, and he still must be sentenced.
Even though he faces mandatory life in prison for each of the first-degree intentional homicide convictions, there's a lot more involved. The judge has set a hearing Monday to discuss scheduling and logistics of the sentencing.
CourtTV, which streamed the entire 3½ week trial, is still set up at the Waukesha County Courthouse for that.
The role of Judge Jennifer Dorow moving forward in the Darrell Brooks trial
Whenever sentencing occurs, Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow will have to decide if and when Brooks can petition for release to serve the balance of his sentence under community supervision. And even though sentences for the other convictions — reckless endangerment, bail jumping, hit-and-run involving injury, battery — will be subordinate to the life terms, Dorow must decide them.
It also will be up to her whether any or all of them will be concurrent or consecutive to others.
There will be another chance for victims and their families to make impact statements. Brooks, too, will get another chance to address the court, and the community.
Will Darrell Brooks appeal his conviction?
Once Brooks is sentenced, he'll have 20 days to file notice of appeal. That could take years to complete, according to a couple of veteran appellate lawyers, and has long odds, at best, to save Brooks from life in prison.
Ellen Henak said if Brooks decides not to continue representing himself, he would again qualify for an attorney from the State Public Defender. The first thing she expects would be examined is Dorow's decision to allow Brooks go to trial without a lawyer. The judge devoted two long hearings to the topic, and made a detailed record of her conclusion that Brooks had made a knowing, voluntary decision to waive his right to an attorney.
Brooks made many objections during trial, but Henak said they may not have been the right ones.
"The problem with pro se, from appeals point, is there's no such thing as ineffective assistance of counsel," Henak said.
Matthew Pinix said Dorow's decisions to repeatedly move Brooks to a separate courtroom, where he could participate by audio and video equipment, and to sometimes mute his microphone there, might be fertile ground for appellate review.
"I don't know who'd be chomping at the bit for this case, but if you got it, some of the nuance and novelty would be interesting," he said. Though many courts expanded use of virtual participation during the coronavirus pandemic, having a full trial that way — if Brooks' intermittent presence is seen as such — would take a significant court decision. If one resulted from Brooks' case, he said, it could help guide judges facing a similarly challenging trial in the future.
But neither sees much real chance for Brooks to prevail on appeal, given appellate judges' option to declare any problems from the trial, "harmless error."
"When you have elected judges and a case that's as much of a lightning rod as this case, they have some very difficult decisions to make in public," Henak said. "There will be a real pull, give the emotions of this case, to say anything and everything is harmless."
Henak said criminal defendants rarely win on appeal, even orders for a new trial.
Henak, who said she has been the victim of crime, suggested the community not work Brooks' possible appeal into its healing process.
"Anyone looking for closure from the criminal justice system is probably looking in the wrong place," she said. "It's not something the system can deliver."
It's not the only solution. Waukesha plans to hold this year's Christmas parade on Dec. 4, is moving along with plans for a permanent memorial to the victims in last year's attack and will continue its myriad other showings of Waukesha Strong.
More:For shop owners along Waukesha parade route, Darrell Brooks verdict was never in doubt
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What's next for Darrell Brooks after guilty verdict in Waukesha trial?
