Jury selection for the alleged Waukesha Christmas parade suspect Darrell Brooks has begun for a second day after Brooks subjected the court to multiple disruptions on Monday.
The trial, which began Monday, Oct. 3, had already taken at least 11 recesses by the time the judge forced Brooks to watch the proceedings by video from another room, according to Fox 6 Milwaukee.
Throughout the morning, Judge Jennifer Dorow called Brooks back into the courtroom, attempting to allow him to be present for his trial, only to remove him later for being disruptive.
Monday’s trial began at 8:30 a.m. and Brooks disrupted it to the point of recess by 8:38. Sometime after 9 a.m. the defendant went back on an agreement about jury selection he previously made with his counsel, and another recess was called at 9:25 a.m.
Brooks provided documents to be filed at 9:49 a.m. followed by a recess and then Brooks reportedly refused to come out and the judge had to order him to be brought to the courtroom.
The first jurors were brought in at 10:09 a.m. and then excused again at 10:13 a.m. for a break. At 10:27 the judge noted Brooks’ repeated disruptions and at 10:53 a.m. the court recessed again and Brooks was removed from the courtroom.
The day went on in a similar way with Brooks being brought back into the courtroom at 11:33 a.m. and then removed again at 11:39 a.m. Eventually, Brooks was remanded to another room for the remainder of the day and bailiffs began checking on him every 10 minutes to make sure he was awake and listening to the proceedings.
Day two of jury selections began at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday with no jurors having been selected, and seven of the first group of 41 having been struck for cause.
Day one disruptions: Not a single juror seated yet in the #waukesha parade suspect trial. This is after 10 hours of back-and-forth between Darrell Brooks and Judge Dorow. Jury selection starts again this morning at 8:30@WISN12News pic.twitter.com/IA81wZixMi
— Courtney Sisk (@Courtney_SiskTV) October 4, 2022
Brooks, who is representing himself in this case, reportedly had his head down and a suit jacket over his head during part of the time he was allowed in the courtroom. Fox 6 Milwaukee reported Brooks told the judge he “doesn’t recognize” his own name, and asserted on multiple occasions that he was a “sovereign citizen.”