A Furnas County District Court Jury Trial has been set for 65-year-old Paul Douglas Brooks of Arapahoe. Brooks is charged with two counts of 1st Degree Sexual Assault that allegedly occurred around June 13, 1998 and one count of Third Degree Sexual Assault of a Child between August 1, 2003 and May 31, 2004. The alleged victim is the same in all three counts. The most serious offenses, 1st Degree Sexual Assault, has a penalty of 1 year to 50 years imprisonment.
District Court Judge Patrick Heng has set aside four days to conduct the trial begining October 1, 2024. His order outlines deadlines for submitting evidence, proposed jury instructions and equipment needs.
The charges involve a different victim than the one he was convicted of in a previous Furnas County District Court Jury Trial conducted in June 2023. In that case, Brooks was found guilty of 1st Degree Sexual Assault of a Child following a four day jury trial. He was sentenced to a term of from 25 to 35 years imprisonment and is serving his sentence in the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution near Tecumseh.
The victim in the older case was 15-years old at the time the sexual assault occurred in the basement of an Arapahoe home between September 21, 2019 and September 30, 2019. The trial was moved from Beaver City to Lexington due the small jury pool in Furnas County and the “pervasive” coverage of the William “Billy” Quinn trial previously held there.
Brooks has appealed that conviction and his case is on the next Proposed Call of the Nebraska Court of Appeals to be heard on October 16, 2024.
