Darrell Brooks Jr. hasn’t given up in his quest to appeal his Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy conviction or consecutive life sentences.
The 44-year-old former Milwaukee man, currently incarcerated in the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, has now filed a new motion asking the Wisconsin Court of Appeals to reconsider its Jan. 27 order that denied his earlier motion asking for an extension of time for an appeal.
Brooks, convicted on 76 criminal counts (including six for first-degree intentional homicide) in October 2022 after he drove an SUV through the middle of a downtown Waukesha holiday parade the previous November, has maintained his intention to appeal since his sentencing in November 2022.
First through an attorney and then as his own representative, Brooks filed a total of 11 extension requests in 2024 and 2025 until the court ruled this year that he had not met court-imposed deadlines to complete his notice for appeal or post-conviction relief.
Appellate court Judge Lisa Neubauer indicated in her Jan. 27 order that Brooks’ arguments and claims about why he was not able to file his notice of appeal by the final Jan. 7 deadline she set in November 2025 didn’t hold up to legal standards. That included his call for an evidentiary hearing on his claims that a prison lockdown prevented him access to legal documents and equipment needed to work on his case.
“Brooks’s present motion fails to establish good cause for the relief requested,” Neubauer wrote in her four-page order.
As previously reported, his former attorney, Michael Covey, indicated that Brooks’ only hope for an appeal is to convince the Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision.
The wording of Brooks’ motion was not immediately available. Online court records indicate the motion was filed Feb. 24. The Court of Appeals has not responded to his latest motion as of 3 p.m. Feb. 27.
Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at james.riccioli@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brooks asks court to reconsider order that closed appeal window
Reporting by Jim Riccioli, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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