Brooks to get new sentencing hearing
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals this week ordered a new sentencing hearing for former Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks, who pleaded in 2015 to a felony charge of putting a false address on her petition to run for Juvenile Court clerk.
The court found that the judge referenced two publicized incidents about the defendant: Brooks’ dispute with a woman over a parking space that led to a subsequently dismissed misdemeanor assault charge and her comments to a Hispanic man about minority contracts during a commission meeting. Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan sentenced her to two years of probation and 80 hours of community service and said there was “absolutely no excuse” for falsifying the address.
“Because we conclude that the trial judge erred in relying, among other things, on the trial judge’s personal recollection of television news accounts of the assault case and County Commission meeting, we reverse and remand for a new sentencing hearing,” the appeals court ruled.
Brooks was elected in 2006, re-elected in 2010 and held office through 2014, according to the court record.
“The evidence in the record shows that the Defendant has a long history of public service in Memphis and that she is primarily known for fighting for justice for the poor, particularly within the African American community,” the appeals court said.
The court said Brooks began to stay with her daughter’s family to help out in 2010 in Cordova, but listed an address for a friend’s home as her residence on several campaign finance documents and the petition for Juvenile Court clerk.
The owner of the home, Robert Robin Brown, told the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation he managed two campaigns for Brooks and had a close friendship and relationship with Brooks. Brown said Brooks lost her house because of financial problems and asked to use his address for mail. His address was in Brooks’ district as a commissioner, but the daughter’s house was not. Both addresses were in Shelby County, which met a requirement for the Juvenile Court position.
In 2014 she was accused of pouring water on a woman, Liese Nichols, in a dispute over a parking spot near Methodist University Hospital.
Also that year, a man, Pablo Pereyra, said at a commission meeting that he knows “what it’s like to be a minority. I grew up in Memphis and I can tell you being a Hispanic in Memphis is definitely the minority of the minorities” to which Brooks responded “You asked to come here. You asked to come here, we did not and when we got here, our condition was so egregious, so barbaric. Don’t ever let that come out of your mouth again because — you know what? — that hurts your case. Don’t compare the two, they’re not comparable.”
In the case of the residency issue, Brooks entered an Alford plea to making a false entry on an election document, which is a Class D felony. An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead in their best interest while maintaining their innocence. She requested a sentence of diversion, which would allow for her record to be expunged if she followed conditions set by the judge and paid court costs.
Brooks said in a statement through her attorneys that she is pleased by the appeals court decision.
“I am so thankful for the support of my friends and this community during a hard period in my life,” she said. “I am also thankful for the hard work of my attorneys Andre Wharton and Michael Working who have continued to work on this case and fought to clear my name for years. They told me to trust in the process and have faith in the system, and this opinion is inspiring. I am thankful that the court recognized and honored my lifetime of service to the community.”
The court’s decision can be found at http://www. tsc.state.tn.us/sites/default/files/brookshenriopn.pdf.