Woman describes alleged attack

Keith Paul

Wednesday, April 12, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

Lynn Malloy sat in a witness chair Tuesday, closed her eyes and described how a man she didn't know attacked her in the parking lot of a store and how she fought him off.

"I thought if he was successful, I was going to be taken somewhere, raped and killed," the 36-year-old woman said. "He took his fist and started hitting me. He told me he had a gun and was going to kill me if I didn't get into the car."

At the defendant's table across the room during the preliminary hearing in Justice Court, North Las Vegas Police Detective William Brooks sat quietly. His face rarely changed as Malloy said the 42-year-old now-suspended investigator accosted her Feb. 20 in the parking lot of the Home Depot on Rainbow Boulevard.

Judge Nancy Oesterle now has the job of going through the 100 exhibits entered into evidence, a taped police interview of Brooks and pages of notes she took at the hearing to decide if Brooks will stand trial. She scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday at 8 a.m. to announce her ruling.

Brooks faces first-degree kidnapping, second-degree kidnapping, coercion, burglary, attempted extortion/collection of a debt and attempted robbery. First-degree kidnapping in which the victim does not suffer severe injuries is punishable by life in prison with the possibility of parole after five years, or 15 years in prison with the possibility of parole after five years, according to state law.

Brooks was given a chance to testify, but on the advice of his attorney he declined. However, a 93-page transcript of Brooks' interview with police gave his version of what happened about 10:30 a.m. in that parking lot.

Brooks retired from the North Las Vegas department in September 1999 after 10 years but he was reinstated Feb. 14 -- about a week before the incident. During the time he was retired, Brooks told Metro Police detectives, he was doing private detective work and his clients included other police officers.

" 'Cause, uh, without ... bringing any officers' names up, uh, when I retired, a lot of officers knew, uh, uh, with Metro or Henderson, whatever, they ... they knew they could contact me if they had problems," he said.

"So I was willing to, uh, uh, take the cases. Could be anything from, uh, it's my wife cheating on me, to somebody, uh, is threatening my kid. And so, uh, and I did it off the books. Uh, and usually I make five hundred bucks," he said. "I never did anything to break the law."

But he also had clients with more questionable reputations.

Like his client in the parking lot case. He said he was there trying to collect a $30,000 debt in a case he took three months before coming back to the police department. He was to be paid $10,000 for his efforts.

"They were kinda shady characters ... well, it's a deal that involved, uh, when I say shady characters, uh, one guy is involved in drugs," Brooks said, according to the transcript. "Another guy is half in, half out of drugs."

When pressed about the name of the people he was working for, Brooks declined several times to give any names related to his case.

Brooks' attorney, Robert Lucherini, questioned the accuracy of the transcript and said Brooks was never given a chance to review the statement and clarify points, which he said is often the case during voluntary statements.

Brooks said he was in the parking lot, because someone called him with a tip that the wife of the man who owed the money was going to be there. He said he realized it was the wrong woman, but she started swinging and knocked his glasses off.

Malloy gave a vastly different version of what happened. When prosecutor Bill Koot asked the 36-year-old engineer to point out her injuries, she rattled off a list from the blows she testified Brooks delivered.

In contrast to Brooks' statement about trying to quickly leave, Malloy testified that Brooks put his hand over her mouth trying to muffle her screams and threatened to kill her several times.

Malloy, about 5-feet-4-inches tall, testified she was able to struggle with the 6-foot-2-inch tall, 230-pound Brooks and wiggle her way out of her 1979 Porsche 911. But she said Brooks again threatened her.

"He pulled out his gun ... pointed it at me and said he was going to kill me," Malloy said.

Brooks left soon after that, but Malloy was able to get the license plate number from his truck. Metro Police tracked the license plate to Brooks, who later contacted police offering to come in for an interview. He was charged soon after the interview with police.

According to the transcript, Brooks is unable to explain how Malloy sustained injuries that caused her to bleed if Brooks only tried to block her swings.

"She had injuries on her face that do not happen just simply as a result of a miscommunication -- of a mistake," said Metro robbery Detective Matt McCarthy, who conducted the interview.

During the interview Brooks often argued with the detective, trying to explain the incident as a mistake, claiming there was no reason to make an arrest and expressing concern about how the case would make him look.

"When you make your decision, and ... and, uh, my immediate concern is about press releases and different things," Brook said. --

Keith Paul covers crime and public safety for the Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4057 or by e-mail at keith@lasvegassun.com