GOV. KATHY HOCHUL'S HAND-PICKED STATE PRISON CHIEF MAY HAVE KILLED ROBERT BROOKS WITH 'DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE'—JUDGE
ALLEGATIONS DOCCS’ COMMISSIONER DANIEL F. MARTUSCELLO, III IGNORED YEARS OF WARNINGS STATE PRISON GUARDS REGULARLY BEAT PRISONERS FOR SPORT MAY MAKE HIM LEGALLY LIABLE FOR BROOKS' KILLING BY GUARDS AT THE MARCY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY IN 2024
Daniel F. Martuscello, III, picked by Gov. Kathy Hochul to run the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Photo credit: framegrab via State Senate video.
MALONE, NEW YORK Feb. 23, 2026
Gov. Kathy Hochul's hand-picked state prison chief ignored years of warnings guards were regularly beating prisoners for sport, so much so a jury could find him responsible for killing Robert Brooks—even though he wasn't there when Brooks was murdered by guards.
That was the ruling by a federal judge last Friday when she denied State Attorney General Letitia James's motion to dismiss a federal civil rights lawsuit against Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III, filed by the estate of Robert L. Brooks Sr., the plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"Plaintiff plausibly alleges that Defendant Martuscello was aware of the risk created by the Policy, but disregarded that risk and permitted the Policy to continue," federal judge Anne M. Nardacci found in a scalding 39-page decision.
The "Policy" judge Nardacci cited is described in the Brook’s estate's Second Amended Complaint as a "well-settled and widespread de facto policy" of "failing to hold correctional officers accountable for using excessive force against incarcerated individuals."
"Part and parcel of this de facto policy is maintaining a strict code of silence," the complaint alleges, which requires New York's prison guards to "uniformly look the other way or assist in covering up abuse of incarcerated individuals."
While Martuscello claimed he wasn't aware of this "Policy," judge Nardacci found his "argument borders on frivolous."
The decision was first reported by Brendan J. Lyons of the Albany Times Union.
Judge Nardacci based her decision on reporting by The Free Lance News.
"NY Prison Chief Ignored 'Ticking Time-Bomb' 3 1/2 Months Before Guards Killed Robert Brooks" was published Feb. 10, 2025. While the Brooks’s estate's complaint fails to properly credit The Free Lance News's reporting, only The Free Lance reported on a face-to-face meeting Martuscello had with prisoners' rights advocates at DOCCS’ headquarters in Albany on Aug. 27, 2024.
At that meeting, the advocates warned Commissioner Martuscello guards were regularly beating and abusing prisoners sadistically and excessively—and getting away with it.
"I personally have told him, 'You got a ticking time-bomb about to go off,'" Tyrrell Muhammad, one of the advocates, told Martuscello, The Free Lance News reported. "The officers are aggressive and heavy-handed."
Last Friday, judge Nardacci cited Muhammad's warning as a reason to deny Attorney General James's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and let a jury decide whether Martuscello was partly responsible for Brooks' murder.
"Plaintiff alleges that advocates repeatedly and consistently raised alarms about assaults by correction officers, once even characterizing the issue as a 'ticking time-bomb,'" judge Nardacci wrote.
Robert L. Brooks Sr.’s casket. Photo credit: unknown, via Unconda Perry.
Brooks Sr., a 43-year-old Black American from Rochester, was tortured, beaten and choked to death by guards at the Marcy Correctional Facility outside Utica on Dec. 9, 2024. The murder was unknowingly caught on video by body-worn cameras four of the guards were wearing. The video shocked and sickened the Nation.
"Beat-up squads" of guards have operated largely with impunity in New York's prisons for decades. The beat-up squad at Marcy is no exception. State Attorney James ignored the Marcy squad, even though her office was warned of its existence in 2023.
Nurses who worked in Marcy's infirmary, where the beat-up squad regularly took prisoners to abuse because it lacked security cameras, also covered up the abuse of prisoners for years.
Less than three months after Brooks was murdered at Marcy, guards at the Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from Marcy, killed Messiah Nantwi on Mar. 1, 2025.
Systemic abuse by guards is made possible by a toothless and ineffective administrative disciplinary system that holds hearings in secret and leaves the punishment of crimes and misconduct by guards up to private arbitrators instead of public officials.
The Free Lance News sued to open those hearings up to the press and public, but a state appeals court in Albany dismissed the lawsuit in January. The Free Lance is asking New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, to hear the case. It has not yet decided whether it will
13 guards were charged with either killing Brooks, failing to stop it or covering it up.
David J. Kingsley III was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 25-years-to-life. Nicholas Kieffer and Mathew J. Galliher were tried with Kingsley on manslaughter and assault but acquitted. Kieffer was also acquitted of contributing to the attempted cover-up.
Anthony Farina and Nicholas Anzalone received 22 years after pleading guilty to first degree manslaughter. Christopher Walrath, who punched Brooks first, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 15 years.
Sgt. Michael Mashaw and David Walters also pleaded guilty to manslaughter. They were sentenced to 3-to-9 and 2 1/3-to-7 years, respectively. Walters, however, was released on bail pending appeal in a shocking decision made on Dec. 10, 2025.
Sgt. Glenn Trombly and another guard, Robert Kessler, testified for the prosecution. Kessler pleaded guilty to gang assault and was promised a sentence between 5-7 years. Trombly pleaded guilty to attempted gang assault and was promised a 4-year sentence.
Another guard, Nicholas Gentile, was charged with evidence tampering. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor attempted evidence tampering and was sentenced to one year conditional discharge and a $250 fine, the Rome Sentinel reported.
A 12th guard agreed to help prosecutors and will plead guilty to unknown charges in exchange for specific sentences also not known at this time.
Finally, Michael D. Fisher pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment for failing to stop Brooks' murder after a jury dead-locked on a manslaughter charge. He was sentenced to six months.
The civil rights lawsuit filed by Brooks' estate names all 13 of these guards, Martuscello, plus an additional 9 guards as well as two nurses who were present when Brooks was killed but failed to take action to stop it.
The legal sufficiency of the allegations against all of the defendants other than Martuscello were not challenged in the motion to dismiss decided by judge Nardacci last Friday. Only the sufficiency of the allegations against Martuscello was.
The specific claim against Martuscello is that he violated Brooks' constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual" punishment. Under US Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Eighth Amendment, prison officials must ensure people in their custody are protected from violence—violence from both other prisoners and guards.
If prison officials are "deliberately indifferent" to violence, from either prisoners or guards, they violate the Eighth Amendment.
That was the question judge Nardacci faced in deciding whether to dismiss the lawsuit against Martuscello. Her task wasn't to decide if Martuscello was guilty of being deliberately indifferent, it was only to decide whether the lawsuit alleged enough facts that, if true, would be sufficient for a jury to find he was.
In deciding that the lawsuit sufficiently alleged Martuscello was deliberately indifferent, judge Nardacci cited not just the August 2024 Albany sit-down with prisoners' rights advocates The Free Lance News reported, she also cited "Martuscello’s lengthy history at DOCCS."
Martuscello has worked for the state prison system for three decades.
Before Gov. Kathy Hochul made him her hand-picked prison chief in 2022, one of Martuscello's many jobs within DOCCS was to investigate employee misconduct when he was part of its internal affairs bureau, which DOCCS calls the Office of Special Investigations.
"That Defendant Martuscello was involved in the discipline of correction officers accused of abuse," judge Nardacci wrote, "further establishes that Plaintiff has plausibly alleged Defendant Martuscello’s subjective knowledge."
"In sum,” her decision concludes, “the Court finds that Plaintiff has plausibly alleged Defendant Martuscello’s deliberate indifference."
Gov. Hochul and DOCCS did not immediately respond to an invitation to comment. DOCCS typically does respond to allegations in active lawsuits.
While James, the State Attorney General, refused to represent any of the other defendants in the lawsuit, she did agree to defend Martuscello.
James’s press office did not immediately respond to a request to answer that question.
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