LAS VEGAS — Trial has been delayed in California for Steven Brooks, the former Las Vegas-area lawmaker facing felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from a high-speed freeway chase and fight with police the day he was expelled from the Nevada Assembly.
Friday’s pretrial hearing was reset to Sept. 27 in Victorville for Brooks, 41, according to San Bernardino County Superior Court records.
Prosecutor Shannon Flaherty said Brooks has a new lawyer who sought time to become familiar with the case.
Brooks pleaded not guilty Aug. 6 to felony charges of evading and obstructing an officer and throwing a substance at a police vehicle, and a misdemeanor charge of harming a police animal. He could face more than five years in prison if he’s convicted of all charges.
He is being held on $100,000 bail at the San Bernardino County jail in San Bernardino.
Brooks was a second-term Democrat from North Las Vegas when he became the first state lawmaker ever expelled from the Legislature on March 28. Colleagues called him a security threat.
Brooks was arrested hours later after allegedly leading police on an 80 mph chase on Interstate 15 from Barstow to Victorville, fighting with officers trying to subdue him at gunpoint, and attacking a police dog with a wrench.
The freeway arrest followed several reported hospitalizations for psychiatric evaluations and weeks of debate in the Legislature about whether to let him take his elected seat.
Charges are pending in Las Vegas stemming from Brooks’ Feb. 10 arrest on charges including resisting a police officer with a weapon during a domestic dispute with his estranged wife, and a separate case accusing him of illegally possessing a firearm when he allegedly threatened other legislators Jan. 19.