Brooks gets life in prison for sexual assaults Elijah Brooks talks to the victims after being convicted and sentenced for sexual assault in Brown County Circuit Court Tuesday (photo by H. Marc Larson). He became the first defendant in the county to be sentenced under the 'two strikes' law By Jessica La Plante News-Chronicle The mothers of three sexual assault victims wept with relief Tuesday as a jury found 29-year-old Elijah Brooks guilty and compelled a Brown County judge to sentence him to life in prison. After deliberating for about an hour Tuesday afternoon, a jury of seven women and five men found Brooks guilty of sexually assaulting two teenagers, now ages 13 and 15, and attempting to assault a now-14-year-old girl. When the assaults occurred during the winter of 2002, the youngest victim was only 12 years old. Breaking with tradition, Brown County Circuit Court Judge Peter Naze proceeded straight from the verdict to sentencing. He said there was no need to order a presentence investigation or set a hearing date because the state's "two strikes" law had stripped him of any discretion in setting Brooks's sentence of life without parole. With that, Brooks made history by becoming the first defendant in Brown County sentenced under the "two strikes" law. Enacted in 1998, the law requires repeat child sex offenders to be locked away for life after a second conviction of sexual assault of a minor. In 1993, Brooks was convicted of sexually assaulting a Milwaukee County child. Defense attorney Scott Anderson objected to the procedure, questioning the judge's authority to proceed to sentencing right after the verdict. Looking around the courtroom in shock, Brooks shouted at the victims' families who were standing in the courtroom when the judge handed down the sentence. He accused them of being racist. Since the trial began Monday, Brooks claimed the odds were stacked against him because he was a black man being tried by an all-Caucasian jury. He added the trial was unfair because his attorney couldn't locate any of the witnesses he wished to call. After the prosecution rested, the trial proceeded straight to closing arguments. Assistant District Attorney Wendy Lemkuil rehashed the testimony of police officers, social workers and the victims. She said if it wasn't for a perceptive social worker who noticed marks on one of the victim's necks, police might never have learned about the assaults. A criminal complaint accused Brooks of raping and repeatedly assaulting the 13-year-old girl during the winter of 2002. The complaint said Brooks moved into the girl's East Side home after befriending her mother and assaulted the girl every night for several weeks. The complaint further accused Brooks of assaulting the girl's friend while the 15-year-old friend was visiting for a sleepover. In a separate incident, Brooks broke into an acquaintance's apartment and tried to assault the 14 year-old girl who was baby-sitting at the time, the complaint said. Asking the jury to acquit his client, Anderson said the victim's testimony didn't add up to a guilty verdict. He said it didn't make sense that Brooks would have assaulted the girls, who were all good friends, without overstaying his welcome at the East Side home. During the time Brooks was staying at the girl's house, "there was no contact with the police, no contact with the landlords ... (the family) had no confrontations with Mr. Brooks. ...That's what makes these series of events so suspect." Defending the victim's rights, Lemkuil asked the jury to recall the shy and timid conduct of the three adolescent girls who testified. "I couldn't even get (them) to look up at me," Lemkuil said. "They had their lives destroyed ... (and) they come here and they get asked about their choices; why didn't you tell someone?" While the Tuesday verdict marked the end of Brooks's freedom, for the families of the victims, it brought a sense of liberty and release. The mother of the 15-year-old girl said she was relieved to know her child's abuser would be permanently removed from society. She said the trial was an emotionally stressful experience because it forced her daughter to relive a painful experience under public scrutiny. "She was very much scrutinized," the victim's mother said. "It's difficult to go up in front of everybody being 15 years old and have to say that this awful, private thing happened to (you)," the mother said. Since the assault, her daughter has become more withdrawn and less trusting of people, she said. "Her grades suffered, and emotionally, I think she's scarred," the mother said. "She doesn't get close to anybody ... she's more guarded." Despite the emotional aftermath of an assault, Dede Harris, a victim advocate with Green Bay's Sexual Assault Center, said testifying is an empowering experience for victims. "Just being able to get it off their chest and tell people about it can be a healing process," Harris said. She said a verdict is often a prerequisite for closure. Regardless of the outcome of a trial, a verdict is proof that a victim summoned the courage to confronted their abuser. "I think they are just relieved that somebody believes them, and that they were able to tell their stories and get justice served," Harris said. "There's still self-blame and guilt that they have to work through, but they feel more confident about themselves afterwards."