Four New york prison guards have pleaded guilty in connection with the 2022 beating death of inmate Robert brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility, according to court records. The guilty pleas mark the latest developments in a series of investigations into alleged brutality at the facility adn another nearby prison.
Brooks, serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault, died following an attack in February 2022 after being transferred to Marcy from a nearby lockup.Video footage showed Brooks being struck in the chest with a shoe, lifted by his neck, and then dropped. the case,along with a separate investigation into the death of another inmate,Messiah Nantwi,has drawn scrutiny to conditions and practices within New York’s correctional system.
The first plea came in May when Christopher Walrath, a guard initially charged with murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He resigned and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in August. Another guard pleaded guilty in May to attempted tampering with physical evidence and received a one-year conditional discharge. Two additional guards pleaded guilty this week to various charges related to the assault, bringing the total number of convictions to four.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor in the Brooks case, is also leading the prosecution of guards involved in the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in March. Ten guards were indicted in April in connection with Nantwi’s death,including two facing murder charges. Both Marcy and Mid-State are located approximately 180 miles northwest of New York City.
