The Robert Brooks case is the criminal and civil fallout from the December 10, 2024, death of a 43-year-old Black man who was beaten, kicked, and choked by New York correctional officers while handcuffed in the medical unit at Marcy Correctional Facility. Ten officers were indicted. One was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. Seven pleaded guilty to charges ranging from first-degree manslaughter to reckless endangerment. Two were acquitted at trial. A federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the family is still pending, and New York enacted a prison reform law in December 2025 tied directly to Brooks’s killing.
What Happened at Marcy
Brooks had been transferred from Mohawk Correctional Facility to Marcy on December 9, 2024, for his own safety after two altercations with other inmates at Mohawk left him with a head injury.1Syracuse.com. Robert Brooks Was Transferred to a Marcy Prison for His Safety He arrived handcuffed and was taken to a medical examination room in the infirmary.
Cooperating witness Robert Kessler, a former officer, later testified that officer Christopher Walrath rushed Brooks and put him in a headlock without provocation. Other officers “collapsed in, all striking Brooks at some point.”2WWNY-TV. COs Murder Trial Medical Examiner Testifies Officer Nicholas Kieffer pepper-sprayed Brooks and called for backup even though, according to Kessler, Brooks was not resisting. Once inside the infirmary, Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina “continued to hit Brooks and put their hands around his neck” until he went limp.3Syracuse.com. Guard Who Took Plea in Beating Death of Robert Brooks Testifies Against Other Guards Body camera footage shown at trial depicted David Kingsley yanking Brooks by the neck off a medical exam table.4Syracuse.com. Why Was One NY Prison Guard Guilty of Murdering Robert Brooks but Two Others Were Cleared of All Charges Officers placed leg irons on Brooks after he was already unconscious.
Brooks was pronounced dead at a local hospital at 3:52 a.m. on December 10, 2024. Onondaga County Medical Examiner Dr. Yekaterina Merkulova ruled the death a homicide caused by compression of the neck and multiple blunt impact injuries. The autopsy documented blood in his mouth, airways, and lungs, along with bleeding of the spleen and hemorrhages in the liver, bladder, and genitals. Traces of synthetic marijuana in his system did not contribute to his death.2WWNY-TV. COs Murder Trial Medical Examiner Testifies
How the Beating Was Captured on Camera
None of the four officers whose cameras recorded the beating had manually activated them. The video existed only because a fail-safe feature on their Axon Body 3 cameras continuously captures silent 30-minute clips on a rolling basis even in standby mode.5Syracuse.com. How a Fail-Safe Feature on Body Cams Captured NY Prison Guards Brutally Beating Robert Brooks The footage has video but no audio. Lawyers for the Brooks family alleged the officers deliberately moved Brooks to the infirmary because it lacked surveillance cameras due to medical privacy concerns, and Sergeant Glenn Trombly testified officers turned off their body cameras before entering, unaware the fail-safe was still recording.6The Marshall Project. New York Prisons Abuse Infirmaries
On December 27, 2024, New York Attorney General Letitia James released the footage publicly.7NY Attorney General. Attorney General James Releases Footage Officers also falsified paperwork after the beating. Kessler testified he and Kieffer wrote reports claiming Brooks had been “irate, screaming, highly combative, and swinging his hands erratically.” Trombly separately testified the account in Kieffer’s report was fabricated.8Utica Observer-Dispatch. Robert Brooks Marcy Corrections Beating Trial Continues in Utica Court
The Ten Officers Indicted
On January 2, 2025, Attorney General James recused her office after discovering that four of the officers under investigation were being represented in separate matters by attorneys in her own Division of State Counsel. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick was appointed special prosecutor.9NY Attorney General. Attorney General James Updates New Yorkers10WAER. Onondaga County District Attorney Will Be Special Prosecutor
On February 20, 2025, a grand jury indicted ten former correctional officers.11NBC News. Murder Charges Announced Death Robert Brooks The Department of Corrections had already suspended 15 guards and two nurses without pay and issued formal notices of termination.12The Marshall Project. New York Prison Abuse Guards The charges:13ABC News. 10 Former Prison Guards Charged
- Nicholas Anzalone: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, offering a false statement
- David Kingsley: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter
- Anthony Farina: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter
- Christopher Walrath: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree gang assault
- Mathew Galliher: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter
- Michael Mashaw: second-degree manslaughter
- Michael Fisher: second-degree manslaughter
- David Walters: second-degree manslaughter
- Nicholas Gentile: tampering with physical evidence
- An unnamed defendant: second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree gang assault, offering a false statement
How Each Case Ended
The Guilty Pleas
Seven officers pleaded guilty. Their sentences were imposed primarily in Oneida County Court before Judge Robert Bauer.
Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina each pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and were sentenced on November 21, 2025, to 22 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.14Spectrum News. Former Marcy Correctional Officers Sentencing Statements from Brooks’s son Robert Brooks Jr. and his brother Jared Ricks were read into the record by a prosecutor. Brooks Jr. described watching the body camera footage as “like watching a horror movie.” Ricks told the defendants: “You now go from officer to convict. I hope your welcoming committee shows you more grace than you showed my brother.”15CNN. Robert Brooks Death NY Sentencing
Christopher Walrath pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years, a shorter term that Fitzpatrick attributed to Walrath’s “penitence.”16Spectrum News. Marcy Correction Officer Sentenced for Manslaughter Michael Mashaw pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and received three to nine years. David Walters pleaded to the same charge and received two and one-third to seven years. Both admitted at sentencing that they had a duty to intervene during the assault and failed to do so.17CBS 6 Albany. Four Former Corrections Officers Sentenced
Sergeant Glenn Trombly pleaded guilty to second-degree gang assault, cooperated as a prosecution witness, and was sentenced on May 27, 2026, to two years in jail.18Syracuse.com. Former Prison Guard Who Testified Sentenced to Jail Robert Kessler pleaded guilty to second-degree gang assault, testified at the murder trial, and was sentenced in May 2026 to four years in state prison.19WKTV. Former Marcy Correctional Officer Sentenced
The Murder Trial: One Conviction, Two Acquittals
Three officers went to trial together in Oneida County Court in October 2025: David Kingsley, Mathew Galliher, and Nicholas Kieffer. Fitzpatrick led the prosecution over six days of testimony. The defense called no witnesses and introduced no independent evidence.20Syracuse.com. Why Was One NY Prison Guard Guilty
The body camera recordings anchored the prosecution’s case. The defense for Galliher and Kieffer argued the footage showed their clients were not in the infirmary for much of the beating; Galliher’s attorneys said he entered only to apply leg shackles after being instructed to do so by a sergeant.
On October 20, 2025, the jury returned a split verdict. Kingsley was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Galliher and Kieffer were acquitted of all charges.21Syracuse.com. Prison Guard Guilty of Murder A juror later told reporters that Kingsley “strangled the dude to death,” distinguishing his conduct from the other defendants.
At sentencing on December 19, 2025, Judge Bauer imposed the maximum: 25 years to life for the murder conviction and 25 years with five years of post-release supervision for the manslaughter conviction, running concurrently.22Spectrum News. David Kingsley Sentenced to 25 Years to Life Prosecutor Jed Hudson said Kingsley’s “refusal to take responsibility and forcing the family to go through the traumas of trial earned him a maximum sentence.”23Corrections1. Ex-NY Corrections Officer Gets 25 Years to Life Kingsley apologized to the family, saying, “Every single incident was senseless.”2413WHAM. Ex-Marcy Corrections Officer Gets Maximum Prison Sentence
The Last Defendant
Michael Fisher, charged with failing to intervene rather than physically participating, went to trial in January 2026. The jury deadlocked after five days. On January 16, 2026, Fisher pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of second-degree reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced on January 30, 2026, to six months in jail but remains free while appealing the prosecution’s legal theory that he bore criminal liability for failing to stop the assault.25Syracuse.com. Former Prison Guard Pleads Guilty After Jurors Deadlocked2613WHAM. Final Prison Guard Sentenced
Judge Bauer, at the November 2025 sentencing, said: “I’ve never seen so many lives destroyed in a moment.”14Spectrum News. Former Marcy Correctional Officers Sentencing
The Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit
On January 15, 2025, the Brooks family filed a federal wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. The case, Dixon v. Farina, was brought by Cressida A. Dixon as administrator of Brooks’s estate.27Fox 5 New York. Investigations Launched Robert Brooks Death The complaint names twenty on-scene defendants, including officers, sergeants, and a nurse, plus three supervisory defendants: DOCCS Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III, the acting superintendent of Marcy, and the deputy commissioner for correctional facilities. It alleges a “well-settled and widespread de facto policy” within DOCCS of failing to hold officers accountable for excessive force.28Justia. Dixon v. Farina, Case No. 9:25-cv-00068
In February 2026, Judge Anne M. Nardacci denied Commissioner Martuscello’s motion to dismiss, ruling that the plaintiff’s allegations about his public comments and failure to discipline staff were sufficient to establish “deliberate indifference.” The court granted leave to file an amended complaint, and the case is still active.29Prison Legal News. Judge Denies Prison Chief’s Motion to Dismiss
In a separate January 2026 ruling, State Supreme Court Justice Peter Rayhill ordered the attorney general’s office to cover the legal fees of former officers Michael Along and Mathew Galliher in the federal lawsuit, finding their actions fell within the scope of public employment under the state’s Public Officers Law. Similar requests from other officers are pending.30Syracuse.com. Judge Says NY Taxpayers Must Pay Legal Bills
The New York Prison Reform Law
On December 19, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Omnibus Prison Reform Act of 2025.31Governor.ny.gov. Governor Hochul Signs Legislation The law:
- Mandates 24-hour surveillance cameras in all areas of state prisons and local jails, except cell interiors, showers, and toilets, and fixed cameras in DOCCS transport vehicles.
- Codifies the requirement that officers wear and activate body cameras when around incarcerated individuals, including in medical settings.
- Requires DOCCS to post notice of an incarcerated person’s death online within 48 hours of notifying next of kin and to release footage of in-custody deaths to the attorney general’s Office of Special Investigation promptly.
- Enlarges the State Commission of Correction from three to five members, requires at least one formerly incarcerated member, and directs a study of deaths in state facilities over the previous decade. Grants the Correctional Association of New York the ability to visit facilities with 24 hours’ notice and expanded access to records.32Spectrum News. Hochul Signs Amended Prison Reform Package
- Suspends the statute of limitations for incarcerated people regarding injuries suffered in custody until three years after their release.
Several related proposals, including the Earned Time Act and the Second Look Act, did not pass in the 2025 session and are being reintroduced in 2026.33WAER. New York State Lawmakers Will Revisit Prison Reform Bills A 2026 proposal to create a new state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to handle prison fatalities independently of DOCCS faces opposition from counties and was not included in the governor’s budget.34City & State NY. Robert Brooks Father Pushes New Office