Jury deliberations are scheduled to resume Wednesday morning in the Waukesha parade deaths trial.
Tuesday night, twelve jurors began discussing the 76 charges faced by a Milwaukee man, Darrell Brooks, for allegedly using his SUV to plow into people at the Waukesha Christmas parade last November. Six died, and dozens more were hurt. Brooks is charged with six counts of intentional homicide and seventy other crimes.
The deliberations began after closing arguments in the trial. During her remarks Tuesday afternoon, Waukesha County District Attorney Sue Opper maintained that she can prove Brooks' intent the day of the parade.
"And I submit without any doubt there's overwhelming evidence that this was an intentional act by Darrell Brooks, and an act of utter disregard for human life," Opper said.
Opper said a key example is that Brooks never stopped the SUV until he hit 68 people.
"Just stop driving. That's it. It's really that simple. Not one person had to be hurt that day if he would have just stopped driving," Opper emphasized.
Brooks has plead not guilty to the charges. He continues to represent himself in court and during his closing argument, questioned how the prosecution can determine intent.
"I find it hard to believe that anyone who's had conversations with me, spent time around me, would think for one second that this is an intentional act," Brooks said.
Tearfully, Brooks said ever since the parade incident, others have tried to control the narrative of what he allegedly did.
"Throughout this year, I've been called a lot of things. And to be fair, I am a lot of things. A murderer is not one of them. Never has been, never will be," Brooks said.
Brooks faces mandatory life in prison if convicted on any of the intentional homicide charges.
The jury Tuesday night made requests to take another look at several exhibits in the case, including video of the SUV hitting the Dancing Grannies group, who were in the parade.
It's possible the jury will reach verdicts on all 76 charges Wednesday.
