Man who killed six people at Christmas parade must pay higher compensation

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Thursday ordered a man accused of killing six people when he drove his SUV through a suburban Milwaukee Christmas parade to pay tens of thousands of dollars more in damages, saying she wanted to make sure he did not profit from a potential movie or book deal.

Darrell Brooks Jr. was found guilty in October on 76 counts, including six counts of murder and 61 counts of reckless endangerment, for driving through the 2021 downtown Waukesha parade. Waukesha County District Judge Jennifer Dorow sentenced him in November to six consecutive life sentences without parole and ordered him to pay about $171,400 in restitution.

Brooks drove his red Ford Escape through the parade after an argument with his ex-girlfriend. Six people were killed, including 8-year-old Jackson Sparks, who was marching with his baseball team, and three members of a group known as the “Dancing Grannies.” Dozens more were injured.

Brooks told the court that he suffers from a mental illness and had no intention of driving into the parade route.

Dorow increased the compensation amount to $476,200 on Thursday at the request of District Attorney Susan Opper, who said she wanted to restore taxpayer funds that went to Brooks' victims. She also expressed concern that Brooks could profit by selling his story to filmmakers, publishers or media outlets.

Brooks' attorney, Michael Covey, argued that Opper was simply framing Brooks. He told the judge that Brooks was extremely poor, that he would never be able to pay anyone on the meager wages he earned doing menial jobs in prison, and that the likelihood of anyone paying him for his story was “minimal.”

“(Increasing Brooks' compensation amount) is just an additional penalty, an addition of extra zeros to the guilty verdict,” Covey said.

But Dorow said Brooks would have to pay even more compensation than Opper demanded if the victims could not rely on donations from benefactors.

The judge said garnishing Brooks' prison wages would be a constant reminder of the pain he caused – and that there is a real possibility someone could pay him money for his story. She ordered that any money from such deals be held in trust under state law.

“You only have to look at Netflix to know that crime stories … are things that people want to watch,” she said.

Under Wisconsin law, anyone who agrees to pay someone convicted of a serious crime in that state money for their story must place the money in a trust account. The money must first be used to pay any outstanding attorney fees, then any court judgments, and finally to cover the victim's claims.

About $134,000 of the increased compensation amount would go into the state's Crime Victims Fund, a taxpayer-funded account that reimburses crime victims for their losses. The rest would be divided among the victims' various insurance companies.

Dorow ordered in November that about $47,000 of the original settlement amount be used to compensate the Waukesha School District's insurance company for injuries sustained by several members of the Waukesha South High School band who participated in the parade. The remainder was transferred to the state's Crime Victims Compensation Fund.

Brooks drove his red Ford Escape through the parade after getting into an argument with his ex-girlfriend. Six people were killed and dozens more were injured. Brooks stated in court that he suffers from a mental illness and had not intended to drive into the parade route.

Brooks represented himself in court and caused a stir by sparring with Dorow, ripping his shirt off his back, building a fort out of his boxes of files in the courtroom, and refusing to give his own name. The case attracted so much attention that Dorow tried to parlay her newfound fame into an unsuccessful run for the state Supreme Court.

Brooks appeared at Thursday's hearing via video link from prison. He said nothing during the proceedings, only giving a thumbs up when asked if he could hear and shaking his head in disagreement when asked about his crimes.

The convictions came after a trial in which Brooks represented himself. Throughout the proceedings, he was combative, engaging in loud verbal battles with Dorow, arguing that he was not subject to government restrictions and refusing to answer on his own behalf. He was so disruptive that Dorow often had bailiffs take him to another courtroom where she could mute his microphone.