Verdict reached in the Darrell Brooks trial: Guilty on all 76 counts

A verdict has been reached in the Darrell Brooks trial.

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With all of the drama yesterday (Brooks was in and out of the main courtroom several times) plus the 100+ pages of jury instructions which Judge Dorow had to read, the jury had a little less than two hours to actually deliberate. This morning they got back to it at 8:30 am local time (9:30 ET).

You may recall that at the end of the day yesterday, Judge Dorow learned about a Reddit post which claimed to have been written by one of the jurors. A few hours later, the author of that post edited it to say that it was all a joke. But of course, Darrell Brooks is claiming this morning this is grounds for a mistrial.

As you can see, Brooks is not wearing his street clothes today. That also became grounds for an argument this morning.

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In any case, the judge denied the mistrial after one of the prosecutors pointed out that the Reddit post was edited while the jury was deliberating without access to phones or a computer.

And about an hour later the jury announced they had reached a verdict.

Brooks is charged with 76 counts so 3 hours is not very long. Based on the materials they requested last night it sounds as if they decided fairly quickly on all of the murder and reckless endangerment charges and then focused on the battery charge. Maybe we’ll get more on how they spent their time later today.

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Brooks did put on his street clothes for the verdict.

As the jury enters he is still muttering about “subject matter jurisdiction.” The judge says (for the 100th time) she will not address it. He keeps muttering. The judge spent about 5-10 minutes counting through all of the verdict forms. She then started reading them into the record.

“We the jury find the defendant Darrell E Brooks guilty of first degree intentional homicide as charged in count one of the information,” she read.

As Judge Dorow was reading the verdict in charge two (also guilty) Brooks dropped his head and someone in the courtroom said, “Burn in hell you piece of s**t.”

“Hey, you are to be removed right now. You will not do that,” the judge said. Brooks responded by looking back over his shoulder to see who said it.

So far it’s all guilty on all of the murder charges and all of the reckless endangerment charges. Judge Dorow just keeps reading. Brooks is hardly moving with his head hidden behind his hands.

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And that’s it. Brooks is guilty on all 76 counts. The jury is being polled.

Judge Dorow announces she will hold a hearing on Monday to discuss when sentencing will take place. That will be dependent on how many people (victims or family members) choose to speak in person or by Zoom. Obviously in this case, with so many victims, there could be a substantial number of people who speak so it may take a while for the judge to find enough time in her schedule. But, clearly, Darrell Brooks will never again see the outside of a prison. And with that court is adjourned.

Update: Here’s video of everything that happened today.

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Beege Welborn 5:00 PM | December 24, 2024
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