Explainer: How the Parade Crash Madness Plea Works

Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — Last year, on the outskirts of Milwaki A man accused of driving an SUV at a Christmas parade in the suburbs, killing six people and injuring dozens more. If you were mentally ill during the case and were convicted you should go to the laboratory instead of a prison.

However, Darrell Brooks Jr.'s new crazy defense can be difficult to sell in Warkisha County, which is still recovering from the horrors of that November day.

Let's see how crazy plea works in the Wisconsin judicial system and what Brooks lawyers must prove to avoid prisons.

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What is the charge?

According to court documents, Brooks beat his child's mother because he had not rescued him from prison a few days ago, just before the parade began in downtown Walkisha on November 21. It has been with. He was arrested for flipping her on an SUV.

According to the criminal accusation, he ignored the police stop order and drove his vehicle to the parade route. He bumped into people head-on and turned them over while they were lying on the ground, the complaint said. He finally turned off the parade route, left the car, and tried to get someone to take him home. Police caught him there.

The prosecutor has charged him with more than 80 counts, including multiple counts of reckless danger and six counts of intentional murder. Life imprisonment is required for each murder count.

His lawyer said the police officer who arrested him noticed that he smelled marijuana and his eyes were red and glassy, ​​but so far potential No motive has appeared. His public lawyer, Jeremy Perry, did not return a message.

What did Brooks do?

Brooks initially pleaded not guilty. His lawyer called on Judge Jennifer Draw on Monday to move his case from Warkisha County because of his bad reputation. When the draw refused, he changed his plea to acquittal because of a mental illness or defect.

This is the mad plea of ​​Wisconsin. Brooks essentially says he was suffering from an episode of mental illness and was unaware that what he was doing was illegal or unable to comply with the law.

What comes next in court.

Draw appoints a psychologist to examine Brooks and find out if there is sufficient evidence to support his plea. If a psychologist determines that he is competent, Brooks' lawyer can ask the draw to appoint an examiner of their choice.

If there is ultimately sufficient evidence to support the plea, Draw will conduct a jury trial to determine if Brooks has committed the crime. If he was found guilty, she had another trial with the same jury and was so spiritual that she did not know he was in breach of the law or could not adapt his actions to the law. Determine if you were ill.

If the jury makes such a finding, Brooks will avoid prison and instead be held in a mental hospital for the duration of the criminal accusation sentence. However, he will eventually be allowed to petition for his release.

What the defense counsel must prove.

Brooks lawyers must show the superiority of evidence that Brooks has essentially lost contact with reality during the parade, 50 New York-based forensic psychiatrists Dr. Ziv Cohen, who consulted above, said. Murder case. According to Corey, Brooks has a history of mental illness and needs to show what happened to him on the day of the parade that caused the episode of mental illness. His current state of mind is irrelevant.

How difficult will it be for Brooke?

It was very difficult, according to former Milwaukee County Attorney Daniel Adams, who handled 12 madness cases during his tenure. Even the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer admitted that he had strangled, slaughtered, and dismantled some of the victims of 17 men or boys in 13 years, but he was insane during the trial. Adams said he could not prove.

He said the first hurdle to defense was to find a psychologist who was willing to declare Brooks mentally ill.

"They have their reputation on the line," he said.

Given the high level of attention in the case, the prosecutor probably wouldn't admit madness, Adams said. They can eventually claim Brooks' decision to turn off the parade route and hide the show that he found his actions illegal, Adams said.

"Anyone who was mentally ill and didn't know he was wrong about what he was doing wouldn't have done it," Adams said.

has evidence suggesting that Brooks has a mental health problem.

No. Neither the defense nor the prosecution has published any indication that he has a healthy mental state or mental illness.

What if he appreciated marijuana?

It wouldn't support the defense of madness, Cohen said. He said the defendant could not be spontaneously intoxicated and could not claim that the drug caused the collapse of reality unless it could be shown to have caused an unexpected reaction.

How do the jury trials in Warkisha County react?

This incident has triggered multiple fundraising activities for survivors and families of the dead. People built makeshift monuments, attended prayer rallies, and city officials hung pictures of the six killed in the city hall. And the anger at Brooks is still hot.

Jury trials often see crazy defense as a weak excuse, Cohen said. He said a jury trial in Wakisha County would greet Brooks's argument with deep skepticism.

"It will be difficult to overcome that skepticism by a local jury," he said. "In order to be completely unaware of what you are doing wrong, you need to have a fairly serious mental illness."

High profile criminal defendants are crazy about them I successfully insisted that there was.

Yes. The most famous is John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981. He was acquitted in federal court for madness. He was released from psychiatric care in 2016.

Anger at this discovery led to the passage of the Madness Defense Reform Act of 1984, making it difficult to win by acquitting for madness. A standard of evidence for prosecutors to prove their sanity.