Defense rests in Waukesha parade trial as Darrell Brooks displays aggressive behavior

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- It's now the fourth week of the Darrell Brooks trial, and the case could be in the jury's hands by as soon as Tuesday afternoon.

Judge Jennifer Dorow declared the evidentiary phase of the trial concluded Monday morning after Brooks forfeited his right to call any other witnesses to testify, including himself.

Dorow told jurors the defense's case was rested, and prosecutors denied any rebuttal.

The jury was sent home early Monday morning, leaving the court to finalize jury instructions and victim forms.

Brooks spent a majority of the day in the spare courtroom where he could still participate in proceedings.

At one point when Brooks was muted, he was screaming so loud he could be heard in the main courtroom.

The defendant also blocked the camera's view of him with boxes.

Jury instructions are 107 pages long, according to Dorow. She expects it will take at least all of Tuesday morning to read through them.

Both parties will be allowed one hour to make closing arguments. 

District Attorney Sue Opper said she is expecting the prosecution's closing argument to be between 30 and 45 minutes. The state can use leftover time to rebut the defense's argument.

It remains to be seen if Brooks will make a closing argument.

"Since nothing I say even matters at this point, I'm just going to tell the jury what they need to know. I'm just going to tell them the truth," Brooks said.

Dorow told Brooks his argument needs to be based on law and fact. He said he will base it on whatever he wants to base it on.

Attorney Julius Kim, a legal expert not associated with the case, told CBS 58 he thinks Brooks did the best he could with what he had in his defense, but it's likely not going to be enough to sway the results of the trial.

"He was able to point out actually a couple inconsistencies with the witnesses that he called, and also pointed out that there might be some identification issues," Kim said. 

Brooks called a total of 12 witnesses. He didn't introduce any new evidence and claims the judge didn't let him.

Dorow gave Brooks multiple chances to testify Monday morning, but he instead chose to present issues that weren't based in law or fact.

"In all honesty, I think that it comes from a good place in Judge Dorow's heart. You know, she's not advocating for him, but I think that Judge Dorow wants to see the right thing happen, whether it's a guilty verdict or a not guilty verdict," Kim said. "She is trying to do her best to protect the rights of both sides."

Kim said the state should use its closing argument to drive home the facts of the case, while letting the evidence do the talking.

"I think the evidence has been pretty strong, pretty overwhelming. I do think they really need to hit on this notion of intent, because even despite Mr. Brooks' lack of evidence in terms of his defense case, in terms of what was going on in his mind when he was driving through that parade route allegedly, I think that jurors could still reasonably think that maybe he didn't intend to kill people as he was driving through the route," Kim said.

Trial continues on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.