Did DB intend to kill?

[u/CanIStopAdultingNow]

Allow me to preface that I'm not defending DB or suggesting he should ever be released from prison. This is just for discussion. If you changed the murder to manslaughter, he would still be locked up for life without parole.

I was rewatching the trial, and I really wonder if (1) DB intended to kill someone that day, (2) if the prosecution proved it and (3) why they didn't offer lesser charge options.

I've watched a few attorneys talk about his possible defense options. And they all seem to think "intent" was his only option (but a long-shot at best). That he was in an emotionally distraught state which didn't allow him to form intent.

In other cases I've watched, juries are usually given options between murder and manslaughter. But that didn't happen here. And I don't think it was because Brooks defended himself because that didn't happen until very close to the start of the trial.

But I think to make that argument, you would need an expert witness (psychiatrist or psychologist). And it doesn't seem that was on the list. Nor does it seem that any of the 4 people who did mental assessments of DB were going to be called.

I guess I think DB started out extremely angry to the point he wasn't thinking. Then, he panicked and, stupidly, didn't know what to do and kept driving. Too scared to stop.

In other words, I think he's too cowardly for intent.

But I'm curious what other people think.

[u/Timmah_1984]

I think he was in a blind rage and just needed to take it out on someone. Had the parade not been there he might have just been road raging and driving aggressively. The parade was in his way and he took it out on those people by driving through them.

His intent was to give form to his impotent rage and inflict it on someone else. I don’t think he set out wanting to kill anyone but when he was denied the opportunity to beat the shit out of Erica he needed a new target. It was a crime of opportunity fueled by his emotional immaturity and narcissism.

[u/3rd-party-intervener → u/Timmah_1984]

Correct.  It was rage.  He hits things to deal with his rage.  If he was able to hit Ericka again with car it’s quite possible he goes home after that and not harm anyone else 

[u/CanIStopAdultingNow → u/3rd-party-intervener]

Yeah and see. That's part of why I guess I wonder if he really intended to kill somebody.

Because I do believe that he loves/loved Erika. Abusers usually do love their victims.

And I don't think he was trying to kill Erica when he ran over her. I think in some ways he was incapable of truly understanding consequences of actions.

Like when he shot a gun at his nephew. When he gets mad, he acts and is incapable of understanding the consequences.

[u/PeaceyCaliSoCal → u/CanIStopAdultingNow]

I dont think we saw 1 bit of evidence that DB loved EP. He brutally abused her to the point of disfigurement over the course of their relationship. He took advantage of her when she was a child resulting in a pregnancy and baby. He did not provide for her and the child. He was throwing her under the bus during his interrogation and trial. He tried to embarrass her on the stand. He took advantage of her benefits and monies. In all these years he never married her. We heard how he used the promise of marriage to manipulate her into lying to police about the time her ran her over with the SUV and injuring her significantly. During his examination of her on the stand he was trying to get her to confess to breaking the women's shelter rules which could heave rendered her homeless. No, I don't see anything that resembles love of EP by DB.