Riverside Man Convicted of Sexual Attacks in O.C.

A Riverside man was convicted Monday of a string of Orange County rapes and sexual assaults that could bring a maximum life sentence under the state’s “one strike, you’re out” sexual offense law.

After about seven hours of deliberation, an Orange County Superior Court jury found Steven Dexter Brooks guilty of rape, sexual assault, burglary, robbery and other felonies in connection with the November and December 1994 attacks on three women in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

Brooks, who testified during the trial that he did not attack the women, will be sentenced July 12 and faces punishment under the “one strike” law in one of the incidents.

Under the law, which went into effect Nov. 30, 1994, perpetrators of aggravated rape or child molestation, such as those who tie up their victims, face prison terms of 25 years to life upon a single conviction.

The sentence is 15 years to life for first-time sex offenses in less violent circumstances. Both provisions apply to Brooks, Deputy Dist. Atty. Claudia Silbar said.

He faces additional rape charges in Riverside County stemming from five other incidents.

Silbar stated during the trial that Brooks, then 22, broke into his victims’ homes through unlocked windows or doors and confronted them at gunpoint, demanding money and other valuables.

Brooks also ordered his victims to disrobe and tied and gagged the women before attacking them, Silbar said. In one case, the victim’s roommates arrived home before he was able to rape the woman, the prosecutor said.

The victims identified Brooks as the man who assaulted them, and the prosecution case included DNA evidence against him. Stolen property from one of the victims was found in his mother’s house.

Brooks’ lawyer contended during the trial that the DNA evidence was not conclusive and that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.