Ten New York jail guards have been indicted in connection to the killing of inmate Robert Brooks — whose brutal, and deadly beating was caught on a stomach-churning body-worn digicam video.
Six correction officers have been charged with second-degree homicide and three others face manslaughter prices for the Dec. 9 murder of Brooks, a prisoner at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, an indictment unsealed Thursday revealed. A tenth officer is being charged with tampering with proof.
All of the officers entered not-guilty pleas at a court docket listening to in Utica. Not less than six of the officers made bond — which was set at $250,000 bail bond for the homicide prices.
Brooks was rendered defenseless in opposition to the guards’ alleged beat-down as his fingers have been cuffed behind his again your entire time because the guards confirmed a disturbing “sense of normalcy” within the stunning footage, Onondaga County District Lawyer William Fitzpatrick stated at a information convention.
“I think any sentient human being looking at the tapes naturally comes to the conclusion that [Brooks] 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 stated.
The DA additional claimed that he would be capable of show in court docket that the correction officers believed their bodyworn cameras have been off throughout the group assault.
Protestors stuffed the courtroom Thursday, with some shouting “murdered, murderer,” on the guards who arrived on the continuing in handcuffs.
Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Anthony Farina, Christopher Walrath, Mathew Galliger, and one unnamed man have been every charged with second-degree homicide. In the meantime, Michael Mashaw, Michael Fisher and David Walters have been charged with first-degree manslaughter, indicating prosecutors imagine they’re criminally answerable for the actions of others however didn’t commit homicide.
Three different jail staff have already reached plea agreements, Fitzpatrick stated Thursday.
Brooks, 43, was serving a 12-year jail sentence for first-degree assault since 2017 and had arrived on the jail shortly earlier than his caught-on-tape beating. He had been transferred to the Oneida County jail from one other close by facility.
Within the disturbing tape, Brooks, fingers cuffed behind his again, is repeatedly crushed by a bunch of jail guards — who strike him with a shoe, grip him by the neck and throw him to the bottom. Fitzpatrick stated it was the third beating he obtained after arriving on the jail.
He sustained a damaged bone in his neck, ripped thyroid cartilage, and bruised inner organs because of the assault and died the subsequent day.
The Onondaga County medical expert dominated that Brooks died from compression of the neck and a number of blunt-impact accidents.
After the court docket proceedings, Robert Brooks Jr., the deceased man’s son, made a plea for justice.
“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,” Brooks Jr., stated.
Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the heinous gang assault by the hands of state staff.
“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,” the governor advised reporters in Manhattan.
She had beforehand ordered the guards concerned in Brooks’ dying be fired.
Hochul has her personal correction officers downside — staring down a wildcat strike that has staff at 36 correctional amenities throughout New York refusing to work.
State Supreme Court docket Justice Donna M. Siwek dominated that the strikes are in violation of the Public Worker’s Truthful Employment Act, paperwork filed in Erie County revealed Wednesday.
With Submit wires.
