UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — Six New York prison guards have been indicted for second-degree murder in the beating death of a handcuffed inmate, a brutal incident captured on body-worn cameras that triggered widespread outrage and calls for justice.
Four other corrections workers were charged with lesser crimes in the December death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility in an indictment unsealed Thursday.
The special prosecutor, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, said especially disturbing to him was the “sense of normalcy” of the employees on the video, which was caught unintentionally on the body-worn cameras.
“I think any sentient human being looking at the tapes naturally comes to the conclusion that he must have said something. He must have spit at the officers. He must have resisted in some way. And the fact of the matter is, he did absolutely nothing,” Fitzpatrick said during a news conference after the court proceeding.
Handcuffed corrections employees appeared one after another in a packed Utica court to enter not guilty pleas. Fitzpatrick said at least six made bond in court. Bail for the murder charges was set at a $250,000 bail bond or a $1 million partially secured surety bond.
After some of the corrections officers were released, one man said, “This is not justice, judge — These people killed a Black man,” as he left the courtroom. One woman was removed after shouting “murderer, murderer.”
Protesters were upset that officers were offered bail. Fitzpatrick said the judge followed the law and the men were not flight risks.
Prison guards Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Anthony Farina, Christopher Walrath and Mathew Galliher were among the people charged with second-degree murder, according to court documents. The name of the sixth person was redacted because they'll appear in court next week.
All six were also charged with first-degree manslaughter, meaning prosecutors believe they are criminally liable for the conduct of others.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year prison sentence for first-degree assault since 2017. He arrived at the prison 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of New York City only shortly before the videotaped beating after being transferred from another nearby facility.
Fitzpatrick said Brooks was beaten three separate times as soon as he arrived at the prison, the last being the fatal beating in the infirmary caught on body-camera footage.
The video shows officers pummeling Brooks, whose hands are cuffed behind his back. Officers strike him in the chest with a shoe and lift him by the neck and drop him. The video recorded on the night of Dec. 9 has no sound, but the guards meting out the punishment and watching it appear unconcerned. Brooks, 43, died the next day.
Brooks died of a “massive beating” that broke a bone in his neck, ripped his thyroid cartilage and bruised several internal organs. He also died as a result of repeated restrictions to his airways, which caused brain damage, and choking on his own blood, Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said Thursday that he'll prove in court that the guards thought the body-worn cameras were off, raising concerns about a culture among guards in which a group beating of an inmate could be carried out with an apparent “sense of normalcy.”
Robert Brooks Jr., the victim's son, said after witnessing court proceedings that the indictments were a step toward accountability.
"These men killed my father, it was on video. The whole world got to see it. Waiting a month for these charges has been incredibly hard. But these men must be prosecuted and convicted of the crimes they made,” the younger Brooks said.
Robert Brooks Jr. claimed in a federal lawsuit filed in January that his father’s attackers “systematically and casually beat him to death” and that the prison system tolerates violence.
Fitzpatrick said the charges reflected responsibility: Those who beat Brooks, those who watched, and those who knew about it or should have, but did absolutely nothing to stop it.
Galliher, one of the corrections officers, was further charged with gang assault. Three other prison guards were charged with lesser manslaughter offenses, meaning that prosecutors believe they did not commit murder, but were criminally responsible for the actions of others to some degree. They are Michael Mashaw, Michael Fisher and David Walters.
One worker, whose title was unclear, was charged with tampering with evidence.
Nicolas Gentile allegedly “cleaned the area of Robert Brooks’ blood stains in an effort to conceal” the assault, according to court documents.
Three other prison employees have reached plea agreements, Fitzpatrick said.
“Today will, hopefully, be a chapter in restoring the faith of people that when people cross the line, people engage in such horrific acts, that there are severe consequences,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters in New York City.
Hochul had ordered state officials to initiate proceedings to fire more than a dozen employees implicated in the attack on Brooks.
The announcement of the murder charges came on the fourth day of a wildcat strike, in which at least some corrections officers are refusing to enter their shifts at 36 correctional facilities across the state, according to prison officials.
Even before Brooks’ death, employees at the medium-security prison had been accused of abusing incarcerated people.
Fitzpatrick took over the case as a special prosecutor after state Attorney General Letitia James recused herself, citing her office’s representation of several implicated officers in separate civil lawsuits. Those employees had previously been accused of either taking part in previous beatings of inmates or letting them continue.
“It’s fortunate that video evidence of a callous murder made it possible for charges to be brought against these officers. For far too long, that evidence has not existed, making transparency and accountability out of reach,” said Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York.
That watchdog group reported “rampant abuse by staff” at Marcy after interviewing people incarcerated there in October 2022, who told them of physical assaults in locations without cameras, such as between the gates, in vans and in showers. A guard told one new arrival that this was a “‘hands-on facility,’ we’re going to put hands on you if we don’t like what you’re doing,” according to the report.
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AP reporters Cedar Attanasio, Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.
Michael Hill, The Associated Press
