'GANG' OF PRISON GUARDS MURDERED ROBERT BROOKS —PROSECUTORS
OPENING STATEMENTS IN TRIAL OF THREE NEW YORK STATE PRISON GUARDS CHARGED WITH MURDERING ROBERT BROOKS
Special prosecutor William F. Fitzpatrick giving his opening argument in the murder prosecution of three state prison guards for beating and choking Robert Brooks to death at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
UTICA, NEW YORK Oct. 7, 2025 Last updated: 11:01PM
The trial for the three remaining New York State prison guards charged with killing Robert Brooks has started.
"They killed him," William J. Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, told the jury Tuesday afternoon in Utica. "Remember that word: 'They.'"
Fitzpatrick called the murder "sheer, unimaginable brutality."
When they started beating Brooks, the defendants were not Correction Officers anymore.
"They were a gang," Fitzpatrick argued. “They took turns— collectively and individually—of punching him, kneeing him, pepper spraying him, choking him, pinning him down, cuffing his legs.”
At least one of the jurors appeared to cry while Fitzgerald was speaking.
Mathew Galliher, David Kinglsey and Nicholas Kieffer are charged with murder and related crimes for Brooks’death at the Marcy Correctional Facility outside Utica on Dec. 9, 2024.
The guards were part of a "beat-up squad" of state prison guards that tortured and killed Brooks, 43, on a treatment table inside Marcy's infirmary. It was unintentionally captured on video by body cameras worn by four of the guards.
Kingsley, about 6'2" tall and about 320 pounds, chokes the slight, hand-cuffed Brooks while other guards beat him before lifting Brooks off the table by his neck and dropping him down onto the table like a rag-doll, video shows;
Galliher shackled Brooks' feet and put his hands near Brooks' neck while pushing him down onto the table where the other guards beat and choked Brooks, video shows;
Kieffer peppersprayed Brooks before the beating to blind and disorient him and failed to stop his fellow officers from killing Brooks, video shows (although at one point, he enters the room where Brooks is being killed and appears to say something before being ordered out of the room by Sgt. Glenn Trombly. Because the video was recovered and is without sound, it's not publicly known at this time what Kieffer said.)
All three guards rejected plea-bargain offers and exercised their constitutional right to a public trial.
Nicholas Kieffer looks on from the defense table as his lawyer makes their opening statement to the jury in his murder trial in Oneida County Court in Utica, New York, Oct. 7, 2025. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
David Longeretta, Kieffer's attorney, said his client was "falsely accused." He alleged Brooks did not comply with guards’ orders and only used pepper spray "to gain compliance."
"He did not aid and abet anyone” to commit murder, Longretta argued.
Kevin Luibrand, Galliher’s attorney, argued the proverbial "sad sack" defense—his client was just doing his duty, following orders.
"He did the best he could under the circumstances," Luibrand said.
If anyone was guilty of anything, Luibrand argued it was the nurses.
"They didn't provide medical care for a period of time," he claimed. Galliher, he said, "didn't do anything to contribute to his [Brooks'] death."
Luibrand failed to tell the jury video shows the nurses were ordered by other guards to stay out of the treatment room where Brooks was killed.
Luke Nebush, attorney for Kingsley, revealed in public for the first time that the guards who killed Brooks had been responding to a call for assistance from other guards because Brooks, allegedly, was not complying with their orders. Brooks, he claimed, was also disoriented from a head injury he received from prisoners at another prison before he was transferred to Marcy about an hour before he was killed.
"He thought he was going on an airplane ride," Luibrand alleged during his opening argument.
Luke Nebush, Chief Trial Counsel for the Oneida County Public Defenders, represents former guard David Kingsley. Here he gives their opening argument to the jury as Oneida County judge Robert Bauer looks on. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County District Attorney, was appointed special prosecutor after Attorney General Letitia James recused herself. Her office was already defending some of the guards from federal civil rights lawsuits alleged they used excessive force against other prisoners before Brooks, The Free Lance exclusively reported.
Former Sgt. Glenn Trombly and former guard Robert T. Kessler are expected to testify for the prosecution because they reached secret deals to give that testimony with the special prosecutor. If they do testify, Fitzpatrick will have to disclose that deal to the defendants' lawyers—who will no doubt aggressively cross-examine Trombly and Kessler about those deals after they testify for the prosecution.
Former guards Anthony Farina and Nicholas Anzalone pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter in exchange for promised sentences of 22 years in September. They will be sentenced Oct. 21.
Christopher Walrath—another former guard—admitted guilt to first degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison Aug. 4.
Michael Mashaw, a former sergeant, and David Walters, pleaded guilty to second degree manslaughter for failing to stop the killing. Mashaw agreed to a 3-to-9 year sentence; Walters a 2 1/3-to-7 year sentence.
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.
A twelfth guard, Michael Fisher, won a seperate trial and is scheduled to go on trial for second-degree manslaughter in January.
David Kinglsey watched from the defense table as his lawyer gives their opening statement in his murder trial in Oneida County court in Utica, New York, Oct. 7, 2025. Photo credit: JB Nicholas..
Christopher Martuscello, an assistant commissioner with the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS, was the prosecution’s first witness late Tuesday afternoon.
Martuscello is also the brother of DOCCS’ commissioner, Daniel Martuscello.
Part of Christopher Martuscello’s responsibilities include overseeing DOCCS’ internal affairs bureau, which it calls the Office of Special Investigation, or OSI. OSI investigates deaths of people in DOCCS’ custody.
He directed the OSI investigation into Brooks’ killing, he testified. He was responsible, he said, for discovering the Axion body cameras DOCCS’ uses have a video recall feature that could be used to recover video—but not audio—of events as long as the camera was turned on—even if the camera itself was not activated.
Christopher Martuscello also testified that before Brooks’ killing, neither he nor any DOCCS’ officer knew the cameras came with a video recall capability. Because the recall feature was, in effect, a secret, the defendants were not aware their body-cameras recorded them killing Brooks.
Finally, Martuscello testified that per DOCCS policies every DOCCS officer has the duty to intervene whenever another law enforcement officer is using “clearly excessive” or “objectively unreasonable” force against a DOCCS’ prisoner in their presence.
Choke holds, like the choke holds used on Brooks, were unreasonable unless deadly force was justified—and deadly force is only legally justified under New York law if a person is using or threatening to use deadly force against another, or is a prisoner attempting to escape.
None of the defendants’ lawyers alleged Brooks was using or threatening to use deadly force against anyone or trying to escape. Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, said Brooks had a clean disciplinary record.
“If you elected to use a choke hold,” Martuscello testified, “you elected to use deadly physical force.”
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