Protective order against Nevada assemblyman dissolved in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — No one showed up to seek an extension, and a judge in Las Vegas dissolved a protective order that had been issued for the wife of a troubled Nevada state lawmaker.Neither Assemblyman Steven Brooks nor his wife, Ada, appeared Tuesday before Clark County Family Court Pro Tem Judge Lynn Conant dissolved the Feb. 10 protective order.Steven Brooks’ attorney, Mitchell Posin, said the two-term Democrat from North Las Vegas was in Carson City, where his fate in the Legislature remains in limbo.He has been banned from meetings with party colleagues in the Assembly and banished from the Nevada Legislature building. A bipartisan Assembly committee has also been named to consider whether to expel him from the Legislature.Outside court, Posin called dissolution of the protective order a positive sign.“The TPO was dissolved today, which means that ... his wife is no longer asking that he stay away,” the lawyer said. “That’s obviously good because things are going on a more steady course.”Records did not indicate whether Ada Brooks had a lawyer, and attempts to reach her were unsuccessful. Brooks and his wife have been estranged after 13 years of marriage. The stay-away order had been issued after Brooks, 41, was arrested early Feb. 10 on misdemeanor domestic battery and obstructing an officer charges.Police say Ada Brooks went to a neighbor’s home and called 911 after she said Brooks arrived unexpectedly at her house, and yelled and grabbed her hair on both sides of her head before she was able to escape.Police alleged Brooks threw punches and grabbed at an officer’s gun as they scuffled in a driveway outside his wife’s northwest Las Vegas home.Brooks told The Associated Press the next day that police disregarded his Assembly badge and tried to kill him.The arrest was the second for Steven Brooks since Jan. 19, when he was jailed on felony charges accusing him of threatening a state Democratic party leader in North Las Vegas. Formal criminal charges have not been filed to date in either case.Brooks is due to face a judge April 11 in the domestic battery case.Posin says Brooks plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges “and any other charges that may arise.”Steven Brooks’ lawyer, Mitchell Posin, says Brooks intends to plead not guilty.In the last month, Brooks also underwent psychiatric evaluation after police were called to his grandmother’s house.Last Friday, he was kicked out of a Reno casino restaurant, but Posin said no complaint was filed in that case.