FORMER STATE PRISON GUARD GETS 15 YEARS FOR MURDERING ROBERT BROOKS
CHRISTOPHER WALRATH, 37, PLEADED GUILTY TO FIRST DEGREE MANSLAUGHTER
Former New York State Correction Officer Christopher Walrath, 37, pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter for his role in beating and choking inmate Robert Brooks, 43, to death at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday in State Supreme Court in Utica. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
UTICA, NEW YORK Aug. 4, 2025 Updated: 11:29am
One of six state prison guards charged with murdering inmate Robert Brooks has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Christopher Walrath refused to apologize as he was sentenced in New York State Supreme Court in Utica Monday morning. He will now be caged in the same prisons he once guarded as a Correction Officer.
The defendant's mother and sisters cried in the gallery of the court room as he was led away in handcuffs.
Before he was sentenced, a tense moment occurred outside the courthouse when Walrath and his family came face-to-face with the family of the man he murdered—including one of the man's surviving sons, Robert Brooks Jr.
The young man's father, Robert Brooks, 43, was tortured and murdered by a "beat-up squad" of state prison guards including Walrath inside the infirmary at the Marcy Correctional Facility outside Utica on Dec. 9, 2024. It was unintentionally captured on video by body cameras worn by four of the guards.
Walrath pleaded guilty in May to first degree manslaughter for his role in the killing. In exchange, prosecutors promised the 37-year-old a 15-year sentence, plus five years of parole supervision after his release.
That was the sentence State Supreme Court Justice Robert Bauer imposed Monday.
When he pleaded guilty, Walrath admitted he did not act alone. He said fellow Correction Officers Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler and Nicholas Anzalone helped him kill Brooks by beating him outside Marcy’s arsenal—before Brooks was finally killed inside the infirmary.
After guards attacked Brooks, no one dialed 911. They called a private ambulance instead and Brooks was pronounced dead at a hospital in nearby Utica about 4 hours later.
Keiffer, Anzalone, Mathew J. Galliher, Anthony Farina and David J. Kingsley also face murder charges for killing Brooks. They have demanded a jury trial, their right under the U.S. Constitution.
In addition to the six guards charged with murder, Sgt. Michael Mashaw, CO Michael Fisher and CO David Walters were charged with second degree manslaughter. Galliher was also charged with gang assault, and Anzalone was also charged with filing a false report.
A tenth guard, Nicholas Gentile, 36, 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.
Three more guards—including Kessler—pleaded guilty to unknown charges in exchange for specific sentences. Special prosecutor Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick said he would disclose the charges and the sentences in the future.
On Monday, Fitzpatrick said Brooks did "absolutely nothing" to provoke his killers.
"This was a simple 'Welcome to Marcy,'" Fitzpatrick told Justice Bauer. They beat a "helpless, shackled man."
Fitzpatrick revealed: "This defendant even told hospital personnel who were trying to save Robert's life that he fell and hit his head."
Referring to the body-camera video that captured the killing, Fitzpatrick said if it did not exist, "I often wonder how much larger the fabrications, how much wilder the stories would have been."
Robert Brooks jr. entering State Supreme Court in Utica for the sentencing of one of the state prison guards who killed his father, Christopher Walrath. Walrath was sentenced to 15 years. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
New York law allows crime victims and survivors to give impact statements. Brooks' son Brooks jr. spoke after Fitzpatrick.
“I am not OK, and I never will be,” Brooks said. "I will never get these images out of my head.”
"In that video, I see you and your fellow Correctional Officers treat him as if his life holds no value at all," he continued. "As if you were entitled to brutalize him for sport."
"Did it ever occur to you that my father was human? With a family who loved him?," Brooks concluded.
Walrath avoided the young man's gaze and stared straight ahead as he spoke.
Justice Bauer gave Walrath a chance to speak too before being taken away to prison, but the defendant chose to stay silent. The hearing ended about 15 minutes after it began, when the Court formally imposed the sentence and ordered court officers to take the newly-minted convict to jail.
"Defendant is committed for the term of his sentence," Justice Bauer coldly declared.
At that, the Court Officer standing behind the former Correction Officer placed handcuffs on Walrath and led him out of the packed court room, first past Brooks jr. and his supporters, then past Walrath’s family, including his mother and sister, who were seated by the door he disappeared through.
As he was led past his mother, he appeared to silently mouth “I love you” to her, which she returned.
Outside the courthouse, Walrath's mother declined to comment.
"I wouldn't wish prison on anyone," the younger Brooks told The Free Lance. But in Walrath's case, Brooks added, "Justice was done."
He added he wasn't ready to forgive one of the men who murdered his father, but one day he might be.
"Not yet," Brooks said.
2 1/2 months after New York State prison guards allegedly murdered Brooks 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.
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