# Dozens injured in Waukesha, WI at Christmas parade: Nov 2021 \[update: 6 dead, over 40 injured\]\[update: trial\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746 "2021-11-22T00:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/202 "2022-10-24T22:00:52Z")
I don’t know if you’ve watched the any of the videos. If you haven’t pick a random one and give it like 10 minutes. Reading about his antics doesn’t do justice to what’s actually going on. On paper he does sound like a complete loon. When you see him, however, it comes off a whole lot more like an act. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/203 "2022-10-24T22:03:16Z")
Apologies for saying he, rather than she. I’ve had cases where claimants pretend they cannot understand English, don’t know their names, etc. - where extensive psych exams/treatment suggests nothing of the sort. Or they throw a convenient seizure. Or start cussing at you. Lot’s of fun ensuring that they receive the process they are due. Sounds like this judge is doing an admirable job. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/204 "2022-10-25T13:01:22Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > I know this can’t happen, but I wish there was a way to prevent people like this guy from directly questioning people they terrorized/assaulted/tried to kill. I can’t even imagine having to be questioned by the guy that tried to kill me. [This case](https://www.fox13news.com/news/trevor-summers-acts-as-own-attorney-cross-examines-ex-wife-hes-accused-of-kidnapping-attempting-to-kill) was the worst I’ve seen recently. > [@](#): > > Thursday brought another wild twist in [Trevor Summers](https://www.fox13news.com/news/woman-kidnapped-raped-nearly-killed-by-estranged-husband-recounts-horrific-day-before-a-jury)’ attempted murder [trial](https://www.fox13news.com/tag/crime-publicsafety). > > Summers is accused of kidnapping his estranged wife, [Alisa Mathewson](https://www.fox13news.com/news/with-new-outlook-kidnapping-victim-recalls-domestic-abuse), and plotting a failed murder-suicide [back in 2017](https://www.fox13news.com/news/kidnapping-suspect-makes-first-court-appearance). > > (snip) > > The decision to represent himself led to some bizarre moments in the [Tampa](https://www.fox13news.com/tag/us/fl/hillsborough/tampa) courtroom. > > Alisa Mathewson, Summers’ ex-wife and his alleged victim in the case, would now be cross-examined by her accused attacker, and her discomfort was evident. > > She refused to look at Summers during his questioning. > [@snowthx](#): > > Assuming he does not get an outcome that is acceptable to him, how would the appeal process work? Can he just say after the trail and sentencing “I appeal” and that will set in motion another trail at everyone’s expense? Or can the appeal be shut-down toot-sweet, and this excrescence get locked-up and forgotten like he deserves? IANAL, but my understanding is that the defense needs to prove a number of things in order for an appeal to be successful. Googling, it looking like between 15% to 20% of criminal trials are successfully appealed. However, I guess that most of those are retried, so the percent where the defendants walk would be much smaller. Also, most criminal cases end in plea bargains which can’t be appealed, so the percent of total cases that are actually appealed is much smaller than the numbers above. The judge in this case is spending a considerable amount of time putting everything on the record to show how many times Brooks has been disruptive and such, and why she has made her decisions such as to not allow him to call other witnesses. She has done very well, and clearly is making sure it would be difficult to win on an appeal. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Sounds like this judge is doing an admirable job. I had wondered if she was being too lenient with him, but her actions on Monday she has shown how she can be much more decisive. I suspect she’s just being humoring him to a certain degree just to get the case moved along. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/205 "2022-10-25T13:13:02Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’d be willing to bet he’s a manipulator in real life. Even if he’s being coached, he’s too good at this to have just picked it up since he was arrested. James McGill didn’t turn into Saul Goodman overnight. They played the interview with a detective on the day after the incident and he is just an obnoxious in the interview as he is in court. The questioning when on for hours and hours and Brooks keeps making demands and insisting that he is right about everything. I’ve rarely seen anyone with such an oversized sense of entitlement. During the trial, he kept repeatedly questioning the detective about why they wouldn’t provide him with all the information upfront and seemed genuinely miffed that it wasn’t fair to him. He seems to be driven by certain points more than others. When he was calling witnesses, he concentrated more on the domestic violence charges (that had been dismissed by the prosecutor part way through the trial) rather than the murder charges. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/206 "2022-10-25T13:37:38Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I’ve rarely seen anyone with such an oversized sense of entitlement. During the trial, he kept repeatedly questioning the detective about why they wouldn’t provide him with all the information upfront and seemed genuinely miffed that it wasn’t fair to him. I’m reminded of an article I read years ago, maybe in Scientific American. The authors said they regularly heard that low self esteem was a contributing factor to criminal behavior, but knew of no studies supporting that statement. So they studied the self esteem of convicted criminals in prison. They found that convicted criminals in prison had much higher self esteem than the general population. There’s a more recent book entitled, simply, “Assholes”. It makes the case that there’s a population of people who tend to create lots of problems, who believe they’re entitled to do so, and who believe everybody else should also understand that they are entitled to do so. They often don’t hide their cheating and grift, but, rather, yell at you about it. Eric Cartman, on South Park, is an archetype. IIRC the book opens with a line something like “Somewhere in this word there is a person who wakes up every morning and realizes that he is Donald Trump.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/207 "2022-10-25T13:41:15Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I’ve rarely seen anyone with such an oversized sense of entitlement. So… you’ve never worked retail? I see quite a few self-entitled assholes and special snowflakes every day I’m at work. I’m just grateful most of them are not also murdering people. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/208 "2022-10-25T14:49:09Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > IANAL, but my understanding is that the defense needs to prove a number of things in order for an appeal to be successful. Agree on what you are saying regarding appeals. What I am interested in is not if he can win an appeal, but if an appeal in this case is even allowed to proceed. Since he is representing himself, and assuming he’ll get the book thrown at him for all these antics, as well as not putting up a coherent defense, can he further delay the inevitable by just appealing the decision from this trial? Then, force another court case for the appeal? Or, can the court say “nope!” and deny the appeal and lock him up? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/209 "2022-10-25T15:01:11Z")
Every sovereign citizen must be enjoying this nonsense, I’d guess. The widespread media coverage of his antics, it seems to me, will only encourage others to push the boundaries of what is decorum or considered respectful, in a courtroom. I understand why she’s doing what she’s doing, AND why it’s getting so much coverage, but it will only encourage others I think. One straight faced lying, unethical conman appears and next he’s encouraged all the other swamp dwellers, and now they’re everywhere, pulling the same crap. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/210 "2022-10-25T15:11:17Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Agree on what you are saying regarding appeals. What I am interested in is not if he can win an appeal, but if an appeal in this case is even allowed to proceed. Yes. He’ll have the right appeal. He’ll have to file his notice on time, or he’s done. He’ll have to file his brief on time and get the trial record to the court of appeals. In many appellate courts, they can deny his appeal without oral argument. (I don’t know Wisconsin procedure) But, yes, he gets to appeal. They might appoint him a public defender to do the appeal (I wouldn’t want that job on this record) ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/211 "2022-10-25T15:19:34Z")
Thank you for the explanation! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/212 "2022-10-25T15:24:58Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > So… you’ve never worked retail? > > I see quite a few self-entitled assholes and special snowflakes every day I’m at work. I’m just grateful most of them are not also murdering people. I’m referring to the fact that he’ll killed six people, including an eight-year-old, and gets all butt-hurt that the judge won’t go out of her way to help expedite getting copies of particular records. Presumably, your customers haven’t driven over others on the way to the store. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/213 "2022-10-25T15:58:54Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Presumably, your customers haven’t driven over others on the way to the store. They did during the earlier parts of the lockdown. We had at least one Car Vs Employee incident in the parking lot over mask restrictions. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/214 "2022-10-25T16:36:37Z")
There are assholes then there are _assholes_. This guy is the goatse of _assholes_. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/215 "2022-10-25T16:46:27Z")
I dare say he’d make a good lawyer for Mr. Trump - I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a job offer in his future. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/216 "2022-10-25T17:33:59Z")
Moderating: @simster , Please remember this is a breaking news thread, and political jabs aren’t appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/217 "2022-10-25T17:45:55Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > [This case](https://www.fox13news.com/news/trevor-summers-acts-as-own-attorney-cross-examines-ex-wife-hes-accused-of-kidnapping-attempting-to-kill) was the worst I’ve seen recently. I can’t even imagine what that was like for her. The testimony is bad enough with a lawyer asking you questions, but you just know the ex husband was enjoying every second and dragged it out as long as he could. > [@Broomstick](#): > > I’m just grateful most of them are not also murdering people. Well, not where you see them anyway. No telling what goes on once you can get them out of the store. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/218 "2022-10-25T22:43:07Z")
Closing arguments. > **[Darrell Brooks trial: Jury begins deliberations after closing arguments](https://www.fox6now.com/news/darrell-brooks-trial-jury-instructions-closing-arguments-10252022)** > > Jurors in the Darrell Brooks trial came to court on Tuesday with overnight bags as jury instructions were read, and closing arguments were delivered. Deliberations in the Waukesha Christmas parade attack case began at 6:24 p.m. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/219 "2022-10-25T22:45:40Z")
And he hits the nutjob trifecta! > [@](#): > > Brooks mentioned something about Social Security and maritime law and the placement of the fringe/eagle on the flag in the courtroom. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/220 "2022-10-26T00:19:34Z")
I forget, do sovereign citizens think the flags _should_ have fringes, or _should not_ have fringes? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746/221 "2022-10-26T00:23:47Z")
If it has a fringe it means it’s admiralty law and freemen of the land or travelers, not citizens or something like that don’t have to pay attention to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dozens-injured-in-waukesha-wi-at-christmas-parade-nov-2021-update-6-dead-over-40-injured-update-trial/954746.md?page=12)