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If you’ve followed this case at all they you know that Judge Jennifer Dorow has dealt with and endless series of outbursts and shows of disrespect from Darrell Brooks. Just yesterday one of Brooks’ victims praised Judge Dorow in glowing terms, calling her a “saint.” And I’ve seen many people on Twitter saying the same. She has given a sustained display of judicial temperament that I imagine future professors will point to as an example, i.e. this is what it looks like.
Today started out no different. Brooks had three people testify on his behalf, his mother, his grandmother and his good friend. Both his mother and grandmother talked about mental illness. And for once Brooks seemed genuinely moved.
Notice how different that was compared to yesterday when his victims were describing what they had suffered because of his actions.
Then it was Darrell Brooks turn to speak on his own behalf and say anything he wanted to that was relevant to his sentencing. He wound up rambling for nearly 2 hours.
He denied any intent to harm anyone.
An hour later he’s still talking about himself (not his actions and not his victims).
The judge tries to get him to focus on sentencing and anything he has to say about that. What does he think should happen to him given what he’s been convicted of doing?
At the nearly 2 hour mark, Judge Dorow politely suggests he’s circling the drain and gives him one last chance. Brooks seems to be begging to be put in a mental institution.
Finally, he was done and Judge Dorow took a brief break before returning to issue her sentence. She started by spending about 10 minutes arguing at length that Darrell Brooks does not have a mental condition that contributed to his actions last year. She noted that he’d initially attempted to file a ‘not guilty because of mental disease or defect’ plea in the trial and that had resulted in him being examined by four separate experts all of whom agreed he was competent to stand trial and that mental illness did not motivate him.
