Removing shirt in court, stuffing sign down his pants, somehow La Crosse County DA Gruenke predicted on WIZM the Waukesha parade trial would be difficult

La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke on Tuesday was worried the trial over the Waukesha parade massacre would be difficult with the defendant representing himself.

“It’s hard enough to go smooth when there are experienced lawyers in the courtroom, much less somebody who may not cooperate, may not know how to cooperate,” Gruenke said Tuesday on La Crosse Talk PM. “So, I can just see it being pretty stressful for the people involved.”

“He could cause all kinds of problems. My sense of him is that he’s going to struggle in the courtroom, just maintaining his composure.”

---

La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:07 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find the podcast here.

---

Somehow, Gruenke’s prediction, came true, despite the events in court being almost unheard of, including the defendant removing his orange jail shirt and stuffing a sign down his pants.

Darrell Brooks chose to act as his own attorney in court against homicide charges, after he allegedly plowed his SUV through a Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring many others.

The 40-year-old, on trial for 76 charges, interuppted the judge a dozen times — so much so he had to be moved to another courtroom.

There, on video, he was given a sign when he wanted to object. He stuffed that sign down his pants.

But that wasn’t it. Brooks also removed his orange jail shirt and sat on a defense table with his back turned to the camera.

Of course, had Gruenke predicted any of that, he may just have a superpower of predicting the future. But his estimation was spot on, even if the events that went down were hard to beleive.

“It’s harder for the judge to try to keep everything straight,” Gruenke had said. “It’s tougher on the prosecuters to try a case when there’s going to be somebody on the other side not knowing what to do. And then it’s going to be harder for the jury to focus and the victim’s families to watch this. I can just predict it’s going to be very difficult. Most people who represent themselves don’t do very well.”

That was La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke on WIZM earlier this week. Gruenke was predicting the trial in the Waukesha parade massacre would be difficult, because the defendent, Darrell Brooks was representing himself.

What Gruenke didn’t predict on La Crosse Talk PM on Tuesday was the spectacle Brooks made during the first day of tesimony yesterday.

The 40-year-old, on trial for 76 charges, including killing six people … interuppted the judge a dozen times … so much so he had to be moved to another courtroom. There, on video, he was given a sign when he wanted to object. He stuffed that sign down his pants. But that wasn’t it. He also removed his orange jail shirt and sat on a defense table with his back turned to the camera.

Of course, had Gruenke predicted any of that … he may just have a super-power of predicting the future.