Waukesha Christmas parade trial begins Monday, Oct. 3

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Waukesha Christmas parade trial begins Monday, Oct. 3, more than ten months after the attack on Nov. 21, 2021.

The suspect, Darrell Brooks, is accused of driving through the parade route, killing six and injuring dozens of others.

Brooks fired his attorneys on Wednesday. He will be his own attorney moving forward.

Attorney Julius Kim told CBS 58 trials don't usually go well or smoothly when a defendant represents himself.

"The case right now has all of the makings of a slow moving train wreck, quite frankly," Kim said.

Brooks has no legal experience, and likely, won't know proper procedure in the courtroom.

"In terms of knowing how to do it himself, I think the judge is going to have to, quite frankly, give him a little bit of guidance as to what to do," Kim said.

Three days are set aside for jury selection starting Monday. More than 100 potential jurors will be brought in each day of jury selection.

The court and both parties worked to avoid bringing in jurors with predetermined bias using questionnaires. 

"Believe it or not, many jurors have really not read a lot. I know that from the jury questionnaires," Judge Jennifer Dorow said during a hearing on Wednesday.

Jurors will be asked to fill out another short form, followed by verbal questions from the judge, state and defense. 

The state predicts its case will likely take five to seven days to present.

"We have a very well-designed plan on how to present this trial, or excuse me, this case to the jury in an efficient fashion," Waukesha County District Attorney Sue Opper said during a hearing on Wednesday.

Brooks has less than one week to build his own defense case from jail.

"I think, your honor, that you should understand my position in the jail, that I'm not awarded adequate time out of my cell to get a lot of things done," Brooks told Dorow during a hearing on Wednesday after he failed to come prepared.

Brooks' former attorneys told the court they would be giving him the preparations they made up until the point they were fired.

Kim said there will likely be points of frustration during the trial, and it's important the court and state don't react in ways that could become appealable issues, if Brooks is convicted.

"I think there's a lot of potential for pitfalls and for errors along the way, and so, I think it's up to the judge and to the prosecution and Mr. Brooks, quite frankly, to make sure this trial runs smoothly," Kim said.

Brooks faces 77 charges. 

The state told the court it plans to drop one count of Battery-Domestic Abuse before the trial begins, according to online court records.

The trial is scheduled to take one month, although it could conclude sooner.