The early November bail hearing of Darrell Brooks, the man who prosecutors say plowed his car into the Waukesha Christmas parade on November 21, is reportedly gone from records due to “technical issues.”
On November 5, just 16 days before prosectors say Brooks killed 6 and injured more than 60, Court Commissioner Cedric Cornwall set his bail at an “inappropriately low” amount of $1,000 in a court hearing that has been lost to time, Fox 6 has learned.
When Fox 6 Investigators asked for a record of that November 5 bail hearing, they were told by a court commissioner that “there are no recordings” due to “technical issues.”
“Well, it’s very frustrating,” said State Rep. Scott Allen, Waukesha. “It’s sort of unbelievable in many respects.”
Allen noted that hearings like this are too important to lose.
“There ought to be some built-in redundancies when it comes to protecting the public,” said Allen.
Supreme Court rules state that all court hearings should be recorded word-for-word by a certified court reporter or a digital audio recording device.
Jackie Rupnow, past president of the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association, said they had warned the Supreme Court two years ago that these recordings should be more closely monitored by trained professionals, and the Supreme Court ignored the warning.
“We saw this coming,” said Rupnow.
“There are instances where it happens,” Rupnow added. “Unfortunately, it was just a matter of time before something like this was going to happen.”
Brooks’ $1,000 bail was set for attempting to run over the mother of his child, despite a pretrial risk assessment stating he was very high risk for committing a new crime.
In connection to the Waukesha parade massacre, Brooks’ bail has been set at $5 million.
Story cited here.
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