Ex-husband who said he killed wife in self-defense will not testify in murder trial
A Wisconsin man who said he killed his former wife in self-defense during a confrontation at her Gurnee home will not take the witness stand to explain that to the jurors deciding his fate, his attorneys told a Lake County judge Wednesday.
The announcement came just before prosecutors rested their case against David Brocksom of Kenosha, who is on trial on first-degree murder and home invasion charges stemming from the fatal Sept. 27, 2015 shooting of Beata Brocksom.
Attorneys said closing arguments are expected Thursday morning, then the case will be handed over to the jury for deliberations.
Brocksom, 46, did have his version of events put before jurors last week when prosecutors played a video of his police interrogation after his ex-wife's killing.
During the interview, Brocksom told investigators he was with his kids in the Wisconsin Dells when his 9-year-old daughter told him his former wife had molested her. After the kids went to sleep, he left their hotel room and drove to his ex-wife's house because, he said, he had to "let her know that I know."
The pair argued after he arrived at 4 a.m., Brocksom told police, and when the dispute turned physical, she hit him in the head with a handgun. During an ensuing struggle, the gun fired twice, with one bullet hitting a mattress and the second bullet striking Beata Brocksom, 48, in the neck, according to David Brocksom's account.
Authorities said Brocksom called a friend to pick up his children from the Wisconsin Dells, then turned himself in to police about 7 p.m.
Brocksom, who's been held in the Lake County jail on $3 million bail since his arrest, could receive a life sentence if jurors find him guilty.