A Wisconsin man was convicted on Wednesday of killing six people and injuring dozens of others when he drove his SUV through a Christmas parade last year, wrapping up a trial in which he defended himself with bizarre legal theories and erratic outbursts.

It took the jury a little over three hours to find Darrell Brooks guilty of all 76 charges, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide. He faces a mandatory life sentence on each homicide count.

Dressed in a suit and tie, Brooks silently rested his head on his hands as the verdicts were read. His subdued demeanor was a stark departure from previous days, when outrageous behavior drew rebukes from the judge.

Brooks drove his Ford Escape into the Christmas parade in Waukesha in suburban Milwaukee on 21 November 2021, moments after fleeing a domestic disturbance with his ex-girlfriend, prosecutors said.

Six people were killed, including eight-year-old Jackson Sparks, who was marching in the parade with his baseball team, and three members of the Dancing Grannies, a group of grandmothers. Scores of others were hurt, some severely.

The attack deeply scarred the community of 70,000 people about 16 miles west of Milwaukee. Community members built memorials to the dead and held vigils. The anger was still evident on Wednesday. Someone in the gallery yelled “burn in hell” as the verdicts were read. Vehicles passing the courthouse honked their horns in celebration, WITI-TV reported.

The judge, Jennifer Dorow, scheduled a hearing for Monday to set a sentencing date. Victims and their families are expected to make statements then.

Brooks pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease earlier this year but withdrew the plea before trial with no explanation.

Days before the trial he dismissed his public defenders, electing to represent himself. Police officers and parade-goers testified they saw Brooks behind the wheel of the SUV. The district attorney, Susan Opper, presented several photos of Brooks driving the vehicle.

Brooks’s main defense appeared to be that he was a sovereign citizen, echoing a conspiracy theory that every person is a nation, not subject to government restrictions. He refused to recognize the court’s jurisdiction, refused to answer to his name, launched into meandering cross-examinations and muttered that the trial wasn’t fair.

He got into daily arguments with the judge that often devolved into shouting. At one point he glared at Dorow so intensely she had to take a recess because she said she was scared.

Dorow often moved Brooks into another courtroom where he could watch via video and she could mute his microphone when he became disruptive.

One day, after he was moved to the other room, he took off his shirt and sat bare-chested on his table with his back to the camera. On another day, he built a barricade out of his boxes of legal documents and hid. On yet another, he held up a Bible so no one could see his face and tossed his copy of the jury instructions into the garbage.

Opper told jurors during closing arguments that Brooks’s refusal to stop once he entered the parade route shows he intended to kill people.

Dorow allowed Brooks back into the main courtroom to deliver his closing argument. In a rambling, repetitive speech, he tried to raise doubts about whether the SUV’s throttle malfunctioned and whether the driver simply panicked. He said he hadn’t been able to see his children since he was arrested and insisted he was not a murderer.

Opper countered that a Wisconsin state patrol vehicle inspector testified that the SUV was in good working order. Brooks was trying to play on jurors’ sympathy, she warned.

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