Brooks agrees to plead guilty in domestic battery case

Former Democratic Assemblyman Steven Brooks agreed to plead guilty in connection with a domestic battery case and undergo a mental health evaluation, his attorney said in court Thursday.

The 42-year-old Brooks, who is being held in the Clark County Detention Center on $150,000 bail, could be freed as early as next week after he pleads guilty to resisting a public officer with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, his lawyer Adam Gill said.

Recently released from custody in California on a felony conviction, Brooks was arrested earlier this month in Clark County. With charges of resisting a public officer with a firearm and domestic battery, Brooks faces charges of assaulting a protected person and lying to a public officer.

If Brooks completes probation and a psychiactric evaluation, the charges against him would be reduced to a single misdemeanor count of resisting a public person. Once he completes at least three years of probation, the gun possession charged would be dismissed. Prosecutors have agreed to drop the other charges.

“It’s fair because he’s already spent almost a year and a half in jail,” prosecutor Richard Scow said. “If he’s successful, he ends up with just one misdemeanor on both cases. He’s got a lot to work for. We’re hoping that he gets the treatment, mental health-wise, and gets stable and can get back to normal living in society and not being a danger to himself or others.”

Members of his family who appeared in court declined to speak with reporters.

In March 2013, Brooks became the first state lawmaker expelled from the Nevada Legislature. He was arrested several hours later after police say he fled the scene of a disagreement with a tow truck driver in Barstow, Calif., throwing metal objects out the window of his SUV as police chased him.

Brooks is due back in court Aug. 28.