Department of Justice

OKLAHOMA CITY – JIMMY LEE BROOKS, 36, of Oklahoma City, has been sentenced to serve 235 months in federal prison for unlawful possession of ammunition as a felon and witness tampering, announced United States Attorney Robert Troester.

Brooks’s sentencing followed a three-day trial that began on April 27, 2021. At trial, evidence showed that on March 18, 2020, Brooks fired eight rounds at his girlfriend’s vehicle as she fled from him following a domestic altercation that occurred at beauty supply store in northeast Oklahoma City, blocks away from the Oklahoma Capitol.  Evidence also showed that during the altercation, Brooks brandished a large knife and then retrieved a firearm from his vehicle as she fled the scene in a different vehicle.  Upon retrieving the firearm, Brooks fired shots at the second vehicle as it drove away, striking his girlfriend.  Investigators retrieved shell casings at the scene of the shooting.  Evidence also showed that following the shooting, Brooks sought to corruptly persuade his girlfriend to recant statements that she had made to investigators implicating Brooks in the shooting

Public records reflect that Brooks was previously convicted of being a felon in possession of firearms in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, and that he has several felony convictions in the District Court for Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, including possession of a sawed-off shotgun, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, and aggravated assault and battery.  Brooks also has a felony conviction in the District Court for Lincoln County, Oklahoma for falsely impersonating another and a felony conviction in the District Court for Labette County, Kansas, for discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling or vehicle.  Federal law prohibits prior convicted felons from possessing firearms or ammunition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

After deliberation, the jury found Brooks guilty of being a convicted felon unlawfully possessing ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and witness tampering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b). 

On January 28, 2022, U.S. District Judge Charles B. Goodwin sentenced Brooks to serve 120 months in prison as to his felon-in-possession-of-ammunition charge, and 235 months as to the witness tampering charge, to be served concurrently and to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.  At sentencing, the United States presented additional evidence about the incriminating nature of the phone calls that Brooks placed from the Oklahoma County Jail to his girlfriend for purposes of influencing her statements to law enforcement, including references he made to his association with the Shotgun Crips.  In sentencing Brooks, the district court found that the cross-reference for attempted murder under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines applied, and that following the shooting, Brooks commenced a campaign to have others lie about his involvement in the shooting.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Oklahoma City Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nick Coffey and Charles Brown prosecuted the case. 

This case is part of "Operation 922," the Western District of Oklahoma’s local implementation of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods violent crime initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws.  "Operation 922" prioritizes prosecution of federal gun crimes connected to domestic violence.

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