In a show of support, friends and relatives of convicted child sex abuser William Leroy Brooks wore T-shirts into Yamhill County Circuit Judge John Collins’ courtroom for his sentencing hearing Monday morning.

On the front, they read “Convicted Without Evidence.” On the back, they read, “Justice?”

After Collins sentenced the 52-year-old Sheridan man to 110 months in prison, supporters yelled, “We love you, Bill,” and “We won’t give up,” as he was led out of the courtroom by a sheriff’s deputy.

About a half dozen people came to support the victim, the rest to support Brooks. Security was tight, with four deputies positioned around the courtroom.

At the end of a four-day trial in October, a jury found Brooks guilty of eight counts of first-degree sexual abuse, a Class B felony falling under Measure 11, along with two counts of attempted first-degree rape and one count of attempted first-degree sexual abuse.

The jury acquitted him on two counts of attempted first-degree sexual abuse and one of first-degree sexual abuse. One count each of first-degree sexual abuse and attempted first-degree sexual abuse were dismissed.

First-degree sexual abuse carries a mandatory minimum of 75 months, so Collins could have sent Brooks to prison for a much longer period.

He based his sentence on separate December 2006 assaults at Brooks’ Sheridan residence on a girl then under the age of 12. Brooks was babysitting the victim at the time.

Brooks wrote a letter while confined in the Yamhill County Jail outlining the sequence of events based on his recollection.
He asked that the timeline be typed up and shared with potential witnesses. He also asked that it be shared with his attorney at the time, Mark Lawrence of McMinnville.

Brooks gave the letter to corrections officer Tamara Hart, who placed it with his personal property for pickup by his fiancée. However, she first made a copy and provided it to the district attorney’s office.

As a result, Lawrence was called as a witness at trial. That forced him to withdraw as Brooks’ attorney in favor of Michael Finch, also of McMinnville.

Before Collins pronounced sentence, Finch asked the judge to hold it to 75 months. He said the term being recommended by Deputy district Attorney Lisl Miller was disproportionate to the offense.

Miller said the victim wanted to attend the hearing and make a statement, but her mother didn’t want her to. That left the time for supporters of Brooks.

Friends described him as a religious man of good character, someone who could be trusted with children. Several insisted he could not have committed the acts with which he was charged.

One witness said he had turned his own son in once in similar circumstances. He said he would certainly have turned Brooks in had he believed Brooks was committing acts like those alleged in the indictment.

One of Brooks’ supporters attacked the victim, saying she had “problems.” Miller objected, asking Collins to forbid such statements.

Collins not only also asked the bevy of Brooks supporters to refrain from making such statements from the stand, but also from making such statements among themselves, as they could be heard in the courtroom. Brooks sobbed as people stepped forward on his behalf.

He also sobbed when he got his chance to testify. He spoke in such a low and broken voice that much of what he said was barely audible.

“These are difficult cases, not only for the victim and her family, but for the defendant and his family,” Collins said. “But after seeing all the evidence and hearing all the testimony, I’m convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Brooks is guilty of the charges he was convicted of.”

In addition to sentencing Brooks to more than nine years in prison, Collins also ordered him to register as a sex offender and submit to 10 years of post-prison supervision afterward.

“He’s innocent,” one of his supporters said. “I always trusted the system. I don’t anymore.”
Another said, “I’ve never met a person who’s had a bad thing to say about Bill. He’s a good man.”