Ex-Nevada lawmaker gets probation in resisting arrest case

LAS VEGAS — The only Nevada lawmaker ever expelled from the state Legislature was sentenced Tuesday in Las Vegas to up to three years’ probation and given a chance to have his felony conviction for resisting arrest reduced to a misdemeanor in a February 2013 domestic violence case.

Steven Brooks, 42, also was ordered to undergo 24 sessions of mental health counseling as part of a plea deal that avoided trial in two felony cases.

The former Democratic assemblyman didn’t speak in court. There was no mention of his first-come-first-served Christmas Eve distribution of about 350 pine trees left from an attempt to sell trees to raise money for a nonprofit entity he heads called Freedom Enhancement Academy.

Clark County District Court Judge Kerry Earley told Brooks that he faces up to three years in state prison if he violates probation.

Brooks’ lawyer, Adam Gill, said outside court that he believes Brooks can complete probation in two years.

Brooks also is expected to get probation Thursday in a separate felony firearms case. It stems from his January 2013 arrest while driving a state-issued car with a .357-caliber revolver in a shoe box after North Las Vegas police were told he threatened to harm Democratic Assembly leader Marilyn Kirkpatrick.

Brooks pleaded guilty in both cases in August and was freed from jail. He spent 17 months in California and Nevada jails after a March 2013 arrest on Interstate 15 in California the day he was expelled from the Nevada Legislature.

Scow agreed to drop lesser assault on an officer, battery constituting domestic violence and obstruction charges in the February 2013 case.

Brooks had been returned to Las Vegas in custody after pleading no contest in California to felony evading a peace officer and resisting arrest stemming from a freeway chase from Barstow to Victorville.

A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge said he fulfilled his sentence in California with time served and good behavior.