Utica, N.Y. — Four state corrections officers pleaded guilty Monday in a Utica courtroom in the fatal beating of an inmate last year at a Central New York prison.
The corrections officers had been scheduled to go on trial in two weeks alongside their co-defendants in the death of Robert L. Brooks, 43, an inmate at Marcy Correctional Facility.
The four men are:
- Nicholas Anzalone. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He had been indicted for second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
- Anthony Farina. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He had been indicted for second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.
- Sgt. Michael Mashaw. He pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. He had been indicted for second-degree manslaughter.
- David Walters. He pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. He had been indicted for second-degree manslaughter.
Oneida County Court Judge Robert Bauer promised Anzalone and Farina 22 years in state prison in exchange for their guilty pleas. They had faced 25 years to life in prison on the murder charge.
Mashaw was promised 3 to 9 years in state prison in exchange for his guilty plea. He faced 5 to 15 years if convicted of second-degree manslaughter.
Walters was promised 2 1/3 to 7 years for his guilty plea. He faced 5 to 15 years if convicted of second-degree manslaughter.
Four guards rejected plea deals in court Monday: David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Mathew Galliher and Michael Fisher. These are the charges they face:
- Galliher: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and second-degree gang assault.
- Kieffer: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree gang assault and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
- Kingsley: second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.
- Fisher: second-degree manslaughter.
This is the prison time they face if convicted: Second-degree murder, 25 years to life; first-degree manslaughter, up to 25 years and second-degree manslaughter, 3 to 15 years.
Kieffer was offered a nine-year sentence in exchange for a plea deal but turned it down. He now faces the possibility of life in prison. The judge appeared surprised that he didn’t take the deal and asked Kieffer if he was certain about his decision.
When considering plea deals, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said each defendant has good legal representation, and their attorneys have raised factors he hadn’t previously considered, including details about their backgrounds.
The Brooks family issued a statement after the guard pleaded guilty.
“We are grateful that the special prosecutor obtained these significant plea agreements,” said Robert Brooks Jr., the son of Robert Brooks Sr., “It is important to us to see my father’s killers publicly admit what they have done and face severe consequences.”
“These pleas help us know that some measure of justice is served,” said
Jared Ricks, a brother of Robert Brooks Sr., said the pleas “help us know that some measure of justice is served.” He said the family is eager to see the other guards held accountable at trial.
Nine corrections officers and a prison sergeant were charged in the fatal beating of Brooks.
Multiple corrections officers repeatedly punched and kicked Robert Brooks in the groin, abdomen and face on Dec. 9 in the infirmary at the Marcy prison in Oneida County. He died hours later at a Utica hospital.
The savage beating — which prosecutors said was the final of three beatings to Brooks — was recorded on video by body cameras worn by four of the prison guards. None had turned on their camera, but 30 minutes of video was passively recorded without audio.
Fitzpatrick extended plea deals in late March to each of the corrections officers. He was appointed as a special prosecutor in early January after the state Attorney General’s Office recused itself.
Oneida County grand jurors voted to indict the guards after viewing evidence presented by Fitzpatrick’s office.
Brooks’ death was ruled a homicide by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner‘s Office. The cause of death was “compression of the neck and multiple blunt-impact injuries,” according to the autopsy report.
Brooks’ autopsy showed he suffered extensive bruising, a broken nose bone and bleeding in his genitals and neck.
Brooks arrived at the Marcy prison at about 9 p.m. Dec. 9. Three guards carried him facedown by his hands and feet to an exam table in the prison infirmary.
Guards soon began punching and hitting Brooks, at one point shoving him up against a window. One guard can be seen in body camera footage putting both hands around Brooks’ neck and yanking him off the exam table.
After the beating, Brooks was seen bloodied and stripped to his underwear.
The Brooks family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court claiming state officials oversee a “dangerously broken” prison system that brutalizes inmates.
After the death, Gov. Kathy Hochul named a new superintendent for the facility. She also announced a variety of prison reforms.
Hochul has ordered 18 state employees involved in the beating to be fired. Several have resigned.
Several of the corrections officers are defendants in lawsuits alleging other cases of abuse against inmates, including one contending the Marcy prison has a “beat-up squad.”
The union representing corrections officers, the state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, has denounced the actions of the officers involved in the beating.
Brooks, originally of Greece in Monroe County, was sentenced in 2017 to 12 years in prison on a first-degree assault charge. He was arrested after stabbing his girlfriend multiple times. He had been scheduled for a parole hearing next year.
Brooks had been held in the Mohawk Correctional Facility, records show, but was moved the day of the beating to the Marcy prison. He had been transferred for his “safety,” a state prison system investigator testified, since he had been involved in altercations with other inmates.
The Marcy prison is a medium-security facility, about seven miles west of Utica.
More on death of inmate at Marcy prison
- Why was one NY prison guard guilty of murdering Robert Brooks, but two others were cleared of all charges?
- Prison guard guilty of murder in beating death of inmate Robert Brooks; 2 other guards cleared of all charges
- No verdict yet in Robert Brooks murder trial as jury deliberations continue
- Jury now has the case: Are guards guilty of murdering inmate Robert Brooks?
- Defense rests without calling any witnesses in Robert Brooks murder trial
