UTICA, N.Y. — A former New York state prison guard was found guilty of murder in the death of an inmate beaten while handcuffed, while two other guards were acquitted for their roles in the beating that was caught on body camera footage.
A jury delivered the verdicts in a courtroom just miles from the Marcy Correctional Facility, where Robert Brooks was pummeled by correctional officers upon his arrival on the night of Dec. 9. Five guards indicted in February had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Brooks’ death.
David Kingsley, Mathew Galliher and Nicholas Kieffer were charged with murder and first-degree manslaughter.
Kingsley was found guilty of murder and manslaughter, while Galliher and Kieffer were acquitted.
Kieffer and Galliher were also charged with second-degree gang assault, but found not guilty. Kieffer faced a fourth charge of filing a false instrument.
Brooks was beaten three separate times as soon as he arrived at the prison, the last being the fatal beating in the infirmary caught on the silent body-camera footage, according to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.
The video footage of Brooks in handcuffs being punched, stomped and lifted by the neck triggered widespread shock and was central to the prosecution’s case at trial. The video has no sound, but the guards doling out the punishment and watching it unfold appear unconcerned.
Brooks suffered a badly broken nose, a black eye and injuries to the spleen, liver and groin. Blood leaked into his lungs and stomach, officials said.
Defense lawyers told the jury their clients should not be judged for the violent acts of other guards that night and that their actions did not make them guilty of the serious crimes they were charged with. Kieffer pepper sprayed Brooks, Galliher attached shackles to Brooks’ ankles and Kingsley lifted him by the neck, according to attorneys and body-camera video.
William Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, told the jury that all guards acted together as a gang and “they all killed that man.” The murder charges accuse the officers of acting in a way that showed a depraved indifference to human life.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017. He was transferred that night from a nearby prison.
Six of the 10 guards indicted in February were charged with murder. In addition to five guards who pleaded guilty to first- or second-degree manslaughter, another guard pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempted tampering with physical evidence.
Another corrections officer is scheduled to go on trial for second-degree manslaughter in January.
Three more have agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges and are cooperating with prosecutors, including two former guards who testified at the trial.
Fitzpatrick took over the case as a special prosecutor after state Attorney General Letitia James recused herself, citing her office’s representation of several officers in separate civil lawsuits.
Fitzpatrick also is prosecuting guards in the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at a nearby prison, the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Ten guards were indicted in April, including two who are charged with murder, in Nantwi’s death.
