Courts Still Lack Playbook for 'Sovereign Citizens' Like Darrell Brooks

The U.S. legal system is not prepared to handle defendants who consider themselves so-called "sovereign citizens" like Waukesha Christmas parade attacker Darrell Brooks, according to legal experts.

On October 26, a jury in Wisconsin found Brooks, 40, guilty of all 76 charges against him, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide.

The verdict came nearly a year after Brooks drove a car through the Waukesha Christmas parade in November 2021, leaving six victims dead and several others injured.

The trial was mired with frequent disruptions from Brooks, who represented himself in court, and he regularly challenged Judge Jennifer Dorow with sovereign citizen arguments throughout.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, sovereign citizens "believe they are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from the U.S. law."

It added sovereign citizens "clog up the courts" with bizarre filings and that they "lash out" against officials through acts of frivolous lawsuits and false liens, known as "paper terrorism" as well as acts of deadly violence.

Sovereign citizens have been behind attempts to overturn the 2020 election through the use of allegedly forged election documents and a 2016 killing of three Baton Rouge police officers.

Brooks' case highlighted the difficulty sovereign citizens can pose in the courtroom, with the defendant often fighting with Dorow.

Legal commentator and former Los Angeles Deputy District attorney Emily Baker told Newsweek while she has dealt with sovereign citizen cases she had "never seen anything quite like this."

"Brooks has a level of savvy in his attempts to delay the court," Baker said regarding Brooks' courtroom tactics. "He will make a nuanced argument or correct the prosecution regarding the charges, then feign that he doesn't understand the same subject matter moments later. It appeared Brooks believed if he didn't 'consent' to the proceedings, then they wouldn't happen."

The level of disruption and disrespect shown by Brooks toward Dorow was concerning for Dr. Christine Sarteschi, associate professor of social work and criminology at Chatham University.

She noted while sovereign citizens had long proved to be a problem in courtrooms across the U.S., she did not believe the legal system was prepared to deal with them.

"Each sovereign citizen case seems to be handled differently in each courtroom. It is as if there is no sovereign citizen playbook,' and each judge tries to solve the sovereign citizen problem on their own," Sarteschi told Newsweek.

Sarteschi added legal professionals in the U.S. needed to be more aware of sovereign citizens and work on policies to deal with them. "Just as police officers previously did not receive instruction in dealing with sovereign citizens, it appears as if the courts are equally untrained and suffer from a lack of established policy.

"Today police departments are better informed with established policies. Our courts would benefit from more awareness and the development of specific policies and training."

Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow with the Anti-Defamation League, told Newsweek sovereign citizens have been a problem for the U.S. legal system for many years but "increasingly so over the past dozen years or so."

In response to their "courtroom antics," Pitcavage created a guide titled Sovereign Citizen Behavior in the Courtroom in a bid to help judges and other court officials understand their arguments.

Pitcavage believes sovereign citizen cases are experiencing a period of growth in the U.S. and said there were previous surges in the mid-80s, mid-to-late 90s, and between 2008 to 2012 and that legal officials needed to be more aware of their arguments.

"Definitely attorneys, judges, bailiffs, law enforcement officers, county clerks and recorders, and many others have to be more aware of the sovereign citizen movement," Pitcavage said.

"I have trained around 15,000 people on the sovereign citizen movement over the years, and some of my colleagues have also trained a fair amount of people, but there [to are] many others doing it, and that's a drop in the bucket, really.

"Legal professionals—judges, attorneys, etc.—need to be aware of the sovereign citizen movement not only because of the problems they cause in the courtroom but also because those legal professionals are among the most common victims of sovereign citizen 'paper terrorism' harassment and retaliation tactics, such as bogus liens."

Baker said while sovereign citizens delay overwhelmed courts, their tactics do not work and that judges who are aware of their "word games" can move cases along more easily.

"In criminal law, prosecution and public defender offices are well aware of common tactics used by sovereign citizens, which is a tremendous resource to the attorneys," she said.

"Judges should, and possibly do, have training available to them in their continuing education and judicial conferences. More awareness and education for legal professionals is always a good thing."

Correction 11/28/22, 1:27 p.m. ET: This article was updated to correctly spell the name of the Southern Poverty Law Center.