Four corrections officers pleaded guilty Monday for their roles in the brutal beating of Robert Brooks, a New York State inmate who was punched and kicked while handcuffed and bleeding in a prison infirmary last year.
Two of the officers, Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and agreed to a sentence of 22 years in prison for the killing of Mr. Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York in December. They had originally been charged with second-degree murder.
Michael Mashaw and David Walters, corrections officers charged with second-degree manslaughter for their failure to intervene in Mr. Brooks’s beating, also pleaded guilty on Monday. Mr. Mashaw agreed to be sentenced to between three and nine years in prison, and Mr. Walters agreed to be sentenced to between two and one-third and seven years.
A judge will ultimately decide the final sentences for all of the officers.
Ten people were indicted in connection with the fatal beating of Mr. Brooks, 43, whose grisly death was caught on video. Mr. Brooks was Black and all the officers seen attacking him appeared to be white. Footage of the attack made public by Letitia James, the state attorney general, shows a corrections officer kicking Mr. Brooks and forcing him onto his back on an infirmary examination table, while another officer punches Mr. Brooks in the upper body.
“These pleas help us know that some measure of justice is served,” Jared Ricks, Mr. Brooks’s brother, said in a statement.
In May, Christopher Walrath became the first officer to plead guilty in connection with the killing, admitting in court to beating Mr. Brooks in the groin and placing him in a chokehold. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. Another officer, Nicholas Gentile, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of attempting to tamper with evidence, and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.
In January, Ms. James announced that the attorney general’s office would recuse itself from the investigation into Mr. Brooks’s death to avoid a conflict of interest: Four of the corrections officers implicated in Mr. Brooks’ death were being represented by the attorney general’s office in other matters.
William J. Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney who was appointed as special prosecutor, said that four officers who rejected plea deals will face trial beginning Oct. 6.
Those officers are David Kingsley, Mathew Galliher and Nicholas Kieffer, who are charged with second-degree murder, and Michael Fisher, who is charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Camille Baker is a Times senior news assistant who also contributes reporting to the Data Journalism team.
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