Source: ag.ny.gov / ag.ny.gov
The governor of New York has announced murder and manslaughter charges for six prison guards accused of beating to death Robert Brooks, a Black inmate at Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate NY, who died in December at the hospital he was taken to after the attack.
“Robert Brooks should be alive today,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement, announcing the charges on Thursday, according to NBC News. “The brutal attack on Mr. Brooks was sickening, and I immediately moved to terminate the employment of those involved.”
The name of one of the six corrections officers charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter has been redacted from court records, but the other five have been identified as Anthony Farina, Mathew Galliher, Christopher Walrath, David Kinglsey and Michael Mashaw. Two of them were additionally charged with gang assault. All six of them pleaded not guilty to all of their charges.
In all, 17 employees at Marcy Correctional were allegedly involved in the events that led to the death of Brooks, who had been there since 2017 serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault following an incident involving his long-time girlfriend. Besides the six charged with murder, four other employees have been indicted by a grand jury on various charges, including manslaughter and tampering with evidence. All 17 employees have been named in a civil complaint filed by Brooks’ estate last month. Hochul has ordered the termination of 14 of them.
Police body-cam footage released in late December shows Brooks lying on an infirmary bed with his hands cuffed as he was being punched and kicked by multiple guards on Dec. 9. He wasn’t taken to the hospital where he died until the next day. According to his family’s attorney, medical examiners ruled Brooks’ death a homicide.
You can watch the full released body-cam video, which was released by New York Attorney General Letitia James, below. Content warning: It’s graphic and disturbing.
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