Waukesha parade killer Darrell Brooks Jr. pleads not guilty to 77 charges including six counts of homicide

• Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, pleaded not guilty to all 77 charges against him, including six counts of homicide 
• His attorney filed for a change of venue for his trial and Brooks remains in jail on a $5million bond 
• Last month, prosecutors presented ‘ample’ evidence to show Brooks committed the felonies
• His lawyer admitted Brooks was high during the killing and refused to look at the victims photos when he was interrogated by police 
• ‘In fact, he put his head down, he’d turn his head away from the photos and the videos,’ she said at the court hearing on January 14 
• Brooks is accused of killing six and injuring dozens when he drove his SUV into a parade 
• He has a long rap sheet dating back to 1999 and had been released on a $1,000 bail two days prior to the killing 

A Milwaukee man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens more when he drove an SUV through a suburban Christmas parade pleaded not guilty Friday to scores of criminal charges.

Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, entered the pleas to 77 charges, including six counts of homicide and multiple counts of reckless endangerment, during a court appearance that lasted less than five minutes. 

Brooks’ attorneys filed for a change of venue in the case on Thursday, but it’s not clear when that motion will be considered. He remains jailed on $5million bail.

Last month, court Commissioner Kevin Costello said prosecutors had presented ‘ample’ evidence to show Brooks probably committed felonies and ordered him to stand trial.

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Waukesha parade killer Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, sported a new hairdo at his five minute court hearing where he pleaded not guilty to all 77 charges against him 

He was charged with six counts of homicide for the number of people he killed when he drove his SUV into the Christmas parade, and injured dozens 

During the preliminary hearing, police detective Thomas Casey testified that he and other officers yelled at Brooks to stop as he drove the SUV through the parade in downtown Waukesha on November 21.

He described how the vehicle zigzagged across the street for blocks, smashing into marchers from behind and running them over. He said Brooks injured 61 people, including the six people he killed.

Brooks is accused of killing Virginia Sorenson, 79; LeAnna Owen, 71; Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; Wilhelm Hospel, 81, and Jackson Sparks, 8. 

Brooks’ attorney, public defender Anna Kees, said in January that he couldn’t turn off the parade route because the side streets were barricaded and full of spectators. 

She noted, too, that he told detectives that he didn’t mean to kill anyone and couldn’t bring himself to look when detectives showed him photos of the carnage.

Brooks appeared calm has he entered the courtroom on Friday before pleading not guilty 

In January, the court heard how Brooks had red eyes and smelled of weed when he was arrested. 

Kees made the admissions about marijuana and Brooks’ inability to look at photos of the bloodbath he’d inflicted as evidence that he wasn’t of sound mind, but that he had shown remorse afterward. 

‘It was at this time [when Brooks was in custody], he then spent a period of time with officers after being arrested and at the point one of the officers who spent time with him reported an odor of marijuana on [Brooks]?’ she question Casey, who responded: ‘Correct.’ 

‘That officer reported he had red, bloodshot, glass eyes, correct? And could smell an odor of burnt marijuana on him?’ 

When she asked Casey if it was ‘fair to say’ that Brooks ‘did not want to look’ at the photos of the victims, he said yes. 

‘In fact,’ she said. ‘He put his head down, he’d turn his head away from the photos and the videos.’  

But District Attorney Susan Opper countered that all Brooks had to do was stop the vehicle, and that even if he was high on marijuana he still committed multiple crimes.

He faces life in prison if convicted. 

Brooks steered his Ford Escape for five blocks through the parade route in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, suburb of Milwaukee, on November 21, allegedly killing six people and injuring dozens more.

Authorities estimate that the SUV reached speeds of up to 25 mph and said some people landed on the hood, with Brooks carrying them along.  

The criminal complaint also alleged that just before the tragedy, Brooks drove his ex-girlfriend around, steering with one hand and punching her in the face with the other because she didn’t post bail for him after he was previously arrested for running her over and breaking her leg. 

Brooks’ ex-girlfriend told investigators that he broke her leg when he ran her over in early November.  

Brooks drove his red SUV into the parade on November 21 (pictured). His lawyer revealed in January that the he was high on weed and unable to get off the parade route as the side streets were barricaded 

Brooks’ was last seen with long dreadlocks tied into a bun in court in January (left), simply to the hairstyle he wore when he was arrested (right)

He walked out of jail two days before the parade after his mother posted $1,000 bail. 

Brooks’ ex-girlfriend told investigators that on the day of the parade, she met Brooks at a Waukesha park and got into the SUV, where they argued about why she didn’t bail him out of jail. 

He drove her around, steering with one hand and punching her in the face with the other, a complaint said. 

Minutes after she got out of the SUV, he drove drove into the parade, according to the complaint.

The ex-girlfriend added that the Escape originally belonged to Brooks’ mother but that he lived in the vehicle.  

Prosecutors suggested that Brooks plowed into the crowd fully aware that his actions would lead to the endangerment and possible death of multiple people.

‘All of the victims who were killed and most of the people that were injured were walking right down the middle of the road in plain view,’ the complaint said. 

‘[The street] was clearly closed to traffic, there were barricades in place and police present to direct motorists for the entire length of the parade route.’

The Christmas parade tragedy was the latest in a series of violent crimes he is tied to going back 22 years and spanning across numerous states.  

Brooks is a registered sex offender and has been arrested more than 15 times in the state of Wisconsin alone for charges including possession of drugs, strangulation and suffocation, battery, illegally possessing firearms as a convicted felon and resisting arrest. 

Brooks in due back in court on March 11 at 9 a.m.  

DailyMail.com has attempted to contact his public defender for comment.  

The six fatal victims of the Waukesha Christmas Parade killer 

Darrell Brooks, 39, now faces 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon for each person injured at the November 21 incident, along with the six homicide charges, according to court records filed on Wednesday.

He is accused of plowing through the crowd at the parade on November 21, killing six and injuring dozen others.  

The fatal victims were Virginia Sorenson, 79, LeAnna Owen, 71, Tamara Durand, 52, Jane Kulich, 52, Wilhelm Hospel, 81, and Jackson Sparks, 8.

Four of the five people who were killed were members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies. 

Brooks’ motive remains unknown.  

Jane Kulich was a Citizen Bank employee who was walking with a parade float before she was fatally struck. The sixth victim of the tragedy was Jackson Sparks, 8

Tamara Durand (left), 52, and Leana ‘Lee’ Owen (right), 71, were two members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies

Virginia Sorenson (left), 79, was a nurse and member of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a group of elderly woman marching in the parade. Wilhelm Hospel (right), 82, the husband of one of the grannies, died from internal bleeding

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