Thursday, November 25, 1999
Brooks back to jail
Judge orders ex-Bengal to get a job, support kids
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
James Brooks
|
No one in the courtroom Wednesday confused James Brooks with the football star he used to be. His uniform was a pale blue jumpsuit issued by the Hamilton County Justice Center.
His million-dollar contracts were history. His fortune was gone. And his college degree could not disguise his inability to read the court documents in front of him.
“I played football and I done well,” said Mr. Brooks, the Cincinnati Bengals' all-time leading rusher. “But at some time, I lost all that I had.”
After listening to his story, Judge Steven Martin told the former football star that his problems are no excuse for failing to pay more than $110,000 to support two of his children.
He then sent Mr. Brooks back to jail for three months and ordered him to get a job so he could start supporting his kids.
The judge's decision followed an hour-long hearing that revealed just how far Mr. Brooks has fallen since his days as a running back for the Bengals and other NFL teams.
Mr. Brooks, 40, played eight seasons with the Bengals and holds the team's career rushing record with 6,447 yards.
His attorney, Michael Barrett, described his client as a broke, unskilled laborer who earned $7 an hour at a warehouse job before moving to England three years ago.
He said Mr. Brooks got by
for most of his life because he could play football. Without it, Mr. Barrett said, he has struggled to find his place in society.
“He has suffered the indignities of a man who has fallen from great heights,” Mr. Barrett said.
He would not say how Mr. Brooks lost so much money, but he suggested he had been exploited.
“When he was a little boy, he showed he could run with a football,” Mr. Barrett said. “Since that time, people have been trying to get something out of him.
“That continues to this day.”
The mothers of his children, however, said they are not among those who may have tried to take advantage of Mr. Brooks.
They said they have struggled for years to raise their children without a father, and have waited just as long for Mr. Brooks to support those children financially.
“We think of him as a father who has abandoned his children,” said Lisa Mason, the mother of Mr. Brooks' 4-year-old daughter.
Although prosecutors said Mr. Brooks has five children, the charges in the case heard Wednesday involve only Ms. Mason's daughter and a 6-year-old boy.
The mother of the boy, Cindy Saulsbury, said Mr. Brooks “has to live up to what he's done.”
Assistant prosecutor Bruce Garry said Mr. Brooks has not paid support to the children for several years. “The efforts on behalf of the custodial parents have been totally frustrated,” he said.
Mr. Brooks' new wife, Emma Brooks, said he has not paid because he has no money.
She said she met him in Cincinnati when he was working at the warehouse job and has struggled with him ever since to pay monthly bills.
“His celebrity is something I've never experienced,” Mrs. Brooks said. “I fell in love with him for who he was, not what he was.”
She said her husband suffers from learning problems and is “barely literate.”
Judge Martin asked Mr. Brooks how he graduated from Auburn University without learning how to read.
“I didn't have to go to class,” he said.
Mrs. Brooks urged the judge to let her husband return to her to England, where she said a job and support from her family would help him improve his life.
The judge, however, ordered Mr. Brooks to stay in Cincinnati for his five-year probation. “The problem with sending you back to England is I have no way to make you pay your child support,” he said.
He told Mr. Brooks he would consider releasing him early from jail if he got a job.
He also ordered him to take literacy classes.
Bengals Stories
Time for Muskies to turn it up
No. 1 Bearcats still a work in progress
Extra helping of inspiration
Griffey, Coslet make odds couple on the 'Net
Kentucky 61, Maryland 58
Miami 75, IUPUI 59
Thanksgiving Race may draw record field
Cyclones 3, Michigan 2
Louisville 6, Mighty Ducks 2
