'SO MANY LIVES DESTROYED IN A MOMENT': 4 MORE GUARDS SENT TO PRISON FOR KILLING ROBERT BROOKS
ANTHONY FARINA, NICHOLAS ANZALONE, MICHAEL MASHAW AND DAVID WALTERS WERE PART OF A GANG OF WHITE GUARDS THAT KILLED BROOKS, WHO WAS BLACK, AT THE MARCY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY IN UPSTATE NEW YORK IN DECEMBER 2024
Former New York State Correction Officers Anthony Farina, Nicholas Anzalone, Sgt. Michael Mashaw (top) and David Walters (bottom) being handcuffed and taken to jail by court officers after being sentenced for killing Robert Brooks. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
UTICA, NEW YORK Nov. 21, 2025
Four white state correction officers who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing a black prisoner in an upstate New York correctional facility last December were sentenced to prison Friday morning.
Former guards Anthony Farina, who helped lead the beat-up squad that first tortured then finally killed Robert Brooks at the medium-security Marcy Correctional Facility, and Nicholas Anzalone, were sentenced by Oneida County judge Robert Bauer to 22 years, each.
"I've been at this a long time. I've seen a lot of terrible things in this room," judge Bauer said in his Utica courtroom when he sentenced Anzalone. "I have never seen so many lives destroyed in a moment."
Speaking for special prosecutor Onondaga County District Attorney William F. Fitzpatrick, Assistant District Attorney Jarrett A. Woodfork said video of the killing captured "the face and expressions of Mr. Anzalone during that assault" and showed he sadistically enjoyed killing Brooks.
"Mr. Anzalone seemed to be the one that got enjoyment from it," Woodfork said.
Sgt. Michael Mashaw and one-time guard David Walters were sentenced by judge Bauer to 3-to-9 and 2 1/3-to-7 years, respectively.
Farina, Anzalone, Mashaw and Walters pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing Brooks, and in Mashaw and Walter's case, failing to stop it. Walters, in addition, ordered two nurses who might have saved Brooks' life to stay out of the "treatment room" in the prison's infirmary while the gang beat and choked Brooks to death last Dec. 9, video showed.
All four were part of a "beat-up squad" of state prison guards. Their killing of Brooks was unintentionally captured on video by body cameras worn by four of them.
Former New York State Correction Officers Nicholas Anzalone, Sgt. Michael Mashaw and David Walters being led out of court in handcuffs by court officers after being sentenced for killing Robert Brooks. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Then-sergeant Mashaw was the supervisor directly responsible for stopping Brooks' murder, but didn't, judge Bauer observed before sentencing him.
"I spent a lot of time watching and watching and re-watching that video," judge Bauer said. "I couldn't help but notice as you stood there, as you stood there, while this unfolded."
"The seal of the State of New York on one shoulder, the American flag on the other shoulder," judge Bauer continued, his voice breaking with barely-contained rage.
"You were there for us," judge Bauer said. "You were the purpose, the person who had the authority, whose job it was, the reason you were there, was to make sure something like this didn't happen."
"You were in the best position to say 'Stop!," judge Bauer concluded. "But you didn't."
Letitia James, New York's Attorney General, knew about Marcy's beat-up squad before it killed Brooks because her office was already defending its alleged leader, Sgt. Glenn Trombly, and Farina from a civil rights lawsuit filed by a prisoner alleging they beat and choked him in 2020, The Free Lance exclusively reported.
Woodfork, the Assistant District Attorney, told judge Bauer the investigation into Brooks' murder showed it was just one of what he called "the atrocities that go on in these facilities."
Farina’s wife rests her head on his shoulder as they wait for him to be sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing Robert Brooks. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
2 1/2 months after Brooks was killed at Marcy, another beat-up squad of guards at the Mid-State Correctional Facility—across the road from Marcy—allegedly murdered Messiah Nantwi, 22.
Nantwi's alleged killers, like Brooks', have been charged with murder, manslaughter and related crimes by Fitzpatrick, who was also appointed special prosecutor in that case. The trial of Nantwi's alleged killers is scheduled for March.
Christopher Walrath, another Marcy guard, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter for taking part in Brooks' killing. Walrath was sentenced to 15 years in state prison Aug. 4.
Walrath started the round of beatings that killed Brooks, according to testimony at the trial of three other guards accused of killing Brooks.
David Kinglsey, Nicholas Kieffer and Mathew Galliher rejected plea-bargains and chose a jury trial on murder charges for killing Brooks before judge Bauer in October. Kingsley was convicted of murder. Kieffer and Galliher were acquitted.
Sgt. Trombly and another guard, Robert Kessler, pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution at that trial.
Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, allowed Trombly to plead guilty to attempted gang assault in exchange for a promised sentence of 4 years in prison. Fitzpatrick allowed Kessler to plead guilty to gang assault, with a promised sentence of 7 years in prison.
A third guard whose name is not known with certainty agreed to help prosecutors and pleaded guilty to unknown charges in exchange for specific sentences also not known at this time. Fitzpatrick said he would disclose the charges and the sentences in the future.
Yet another guard, Nicholas Gentile, was charged with evidence tampering. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempted evidence tampering and was sentenced to one year conditional discharge and a $250 fine, the Rome Sentinel reported.
That leaves guard Michael Fisher, who was also present when Brooks was murdered and failed to stop it. He is scheduled to go on trial in January.
Farina, Anzalone, Mashaw and Walters were all allowed to remain free on bail pending their sentencing. They walked into judge Bauer's Utica courtroom Friday morning, and left in handcuffs. Farina went first. While he waited in court to be called, his wife rested her head on his shoulder.
Not a single one of the defendants expressed remorse for killing Brooks when judge Bauer asked if they had anything to say before he imposed sentence. Their lawyers all claimed the defendants felt remorse, and that they were good men, but their actions—and their guilty pleas—told the truth.
Robert Brooks jr., the murdered man’s son, said in a statement that what the guards “took from me, and from my family, can never be returned or made right.” Still, he said, “22 years in prison is a long time, and we are heartened that these officers are facing real accountability–not just a slap on the wrist.”
“I pray,” he added, “this case teaches others that they can’t treat incarcerated people like animals.”
Outside the courtroom after the sentencing hearing, Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, said he was "satisfied" that the primary defendants received what he called "substantial" sentences. He also said it meant he kept his promise to Robert Brooks jr.
"I kept my word to him," Fitzpatrick revealed. “I told him I was going to get the five main characters, which I have.”
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