Mary Bella Brooks sentenced to 30 years

WASHINGTON — On the morning of Aug. 7, 2020, Mary Bella Brooks, 43, of Des Moines, Iowa, was stopped by Officer Ethan Hansen of the Washington Police Department. During the traffic stop, Hansen discovered Brooks was driving a stolen car, and after asking Brooks to step out of the vehicle, Brooks refused and put the car in drive.

Hansen attempted to stop Brooks from driving away, but Brooks accelerated with Hansen holding onto the car. Brooks drove approximately three blocks with Hansen holding on, his feet dragging on the pavement below. Hansen eventually fell off the side of the car and Brooks escaped. Hansen was injured as a result.

Several hours later, the Washington Police Department discovered the stolen car abandoned in a bean field in Washington. When officers searched the stolen car, they discovered drug paraphernalia and over 13 grams of methamphetamine inside.

Officers learned Brooks stole another car in Washington and then drove it to Des Moines where she gave the stolen Washington car to another person. Brooks was eventually found in Texas, where she was arrested and transported back to Washington County in January 2021.

On Jan. 21, 2022, Brooks agreed to plead guilty to Possession of Methamphetamine with the Intent to Deliver, a Class B felony, two counts of Theft in the Second Degree, each a Class D felony, and Interference with Official Acts While Using or Displaying a Dangerous Weapon, a Class D felony. The agreement required Brooks to be sentenced to prison.

At sentencing on March 11, Washington County Attorney John Gish argued for Brooks to be sentenced to 40 years in prison. Gish replayed the recordings of the dragging for the court, and played a recording where Brooks was heard laughing about dragging Hansen.

“We are at a moment in time where it’s popular to disrespect law enforcement and disobey lawful commands, and a shorter prison sentence will only embolden criminals like the Defendant,” Gish stated at sentencing.

The court ultimately ordered Brooks to prison for up to 30 years.

“If Brooks did not have any drugs, I doubt she would have received more than five years in prison for what she did to Officer Hansen and the two victims of car theft,” Gish said. “Brooks is a career criminal who deserves more. In fact, she was released early from prison in 2020 for burglary and was on supervised parole when she committed these crimes. Hopefully the Iowa Board of Parole and Department of Corrections does things differently this time around.”

Gish said the state needed to increase its efforts to protect police officers.

“Iowa’s sentencing laws can and should be better,” he said. “For starters, some of the Iowa Board of Parole’s power should be allocated to prosecutors and sentencing judges. If the legislature wants to Back the Blue, I think this would be a good start and would result in immediate improvement in law enforcement morale.”