SPLIT VERDICT ROCKS ROBERT BROOKS MURDER TRIAL, 1 CONVICTED, 2 ACQUITTED
1 STATE PRISON GUARD ACCUSED OF KILLING ROBERT BROOKS CONVICTED OF MURDER, 2 ACQUITTED IN STUNNING SPLIT VERDICT
Defendant David Kingsley being handcuffed in the courtroom after a jury found him guilty of murder for killing Robert Brooks. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Utica, New York Oct. 17, 2025 Last updated: 6:22PM
One white former prison guard has been convicted of murder and manslaughter for killing a black prisoner in New York. Two were acquitted.
David J. Kingsley III was convicted for beating and choking Robert Brooks to death at the Marcy Correctional Facility just outside Utica on Dec. 9, 2024. Nicholas Kieffer and Mathew Galliher were acquitted of murder, manslaughter and gang assault.
Kieffer was also aquitted of filing a false official report in a failed attempt to cover-up it up.
The accused stayed frozen still even after the verdict was read. Kieffer cried, before standing and quickly wiping tears from his face before he turned around. Moments later, Kieffer and Galliher hugged.
Kingsley showed no emotion as he was led away by court officers in handcuffs. He didn’t even look back to say goodbye to his wife.
Body-worn camera video from one of the defendants, Galliher, and three other Marcy guards captured the murder. A video recall feature on the cameras not widely known allowed the video to be retroactively obtained by investigators—even though the guards only powered the cameras on without activating recording.
Because the video was recalled, it lacked sound.
When the video was made public by state Attorney General Letitia James later that December, it unleashed national public outrage because Brooks was handcuffed behind his back and helpless when he was, essentially, tortured and killed on a treatment bed in what guards called the “emergency room” inside Marcy’s medical infirmary.
David Kingsley’s wife re-acts to the jury’s verdict finding her husband guilty of murder for killing Robert Brooks. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Brooks was also black while Kingsley, Kieffer, Galliher and all the other guards who killed him were white.
The guards belonged to a "beat-up squad" of Marcy guards that inflicted vigilante justice on perceived rule-breakers. Beat-up squads were responsible for the deaths of Benjamin Van Zant at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in 2014 and Samuel Harrell, also at Fishkill, in 2015.
No one was ever criminally prosecuted for either death—highlighting prisoners’ persistent claims that beatings like the one that killed Brooks were inflicted so regularly and routinely on them that a cancerous culture of impunity was allowed to grow among guards by the state agency that runs New York’s prisons, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Less than three months after guards killed Brooks at Marcy, guards at another state prison across the road from Marcy allegedly murdered another prisoner.
Messiah Nantwi was beaten to death by guards at the Mid-State Correctional Facility on Mar. 1, 2025. Unlike Brooks’ murder, Nantwi’s killing was not caught on body-camera—in spite of state rules clearly requiring officers’ cameras be turned on when using force against prisoners.
Six of the 10 guards charged in connection with Nantwi’s death have pled guilty.
Special Prosecutor Onondaga County District Attorney William F. Fitzpatrick called the group of Marcy guards—including Kinglsey, Kieffer and Galliher—that killed Brooks a "gang."
"These were not corrections officers," Fitzpatrick said during his closing argument to the jury last Wednesday. "They were a gang. They were a gang of murderers."
Monday’s verdict capped a two-week long joint trial for the three defendants that started Oct. 6.
All jurors but one refused to speak with the press outside the courthouse after the verdict. When asked to explain the jury’s decision, that one juror said it was based on “the evidence.”
When asked if he was satisfied with the verdict, he answered “What the fuck do you think?—it came from us.”
Pressed to explain the jury’s conviction of Kingsley but their acquittal of Kieffer and Galliher he explained: “He strangled the dude to death.”
Former New York State prison guard Mathew Galliher was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and gang assault for killing Robert Brooks. He did not react at all to the jury’s acquittal. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Video and other evidence Fitzpatrick presented showed Brooks was being attacked by other members of the beat-up squad when:
Kingsley, about 6'4" tall and about 320 pounds, held the 5'7", 145-pound Brooks down so the other guards could beat Brooks more easily before repeatedly lifting Brooks into the air by his neck and dropping him back down to the table he was being tortured on;
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, then smiled about it; and
Kieffer peppersprayed Brooks before the beating, failed to stop his fellow officers from killing Brooks and filed false reports attempting to justify and cover-up the killing.
Former sergeant Glenn Trombly led Marcy's beat-up squad, The Free Lance exclusively reported last December, Prison Guard 'Beat-Up Squad' Killed Robert Brooks, Operated for Years, Attorney General Letitia James's Office Knew it. Last Tuesday, Trombly testified against what he called "my officers" in exchange for a promised sentence no longer than four years.
In addition to supervising the squad when it beat Brooks, Trombly also directed the attempted cover-up, he admitted.
"I told them they should get their stories straight," Trombly testified. "I directed them several times to make alterations to their reports to justify the injuries to Mr. Brooks.”
"I had to ask each officer to fix their reports two or three times," Trombly revealed.
Former guard Robert T. Kessler was also part of the beat-up squad that killed Brooks. He testified for the prosecution that Brooks should still be alive because he didn't do anything to justify being killed.
Brooks was "not threatening," Kessler testified. "He wasn't doing anything at all."
While Brooks defied orders to carry two oversized feed-type bags containing his personal property while he was shackled, and while he may have been slow to respond to other orders, Kessler testified “I was talking with the guy. I was working with him.”
Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, promised Kessler a sentence of 5-to-7 years in exchange for his testimony.
Former New York State prison guard Nicholas Kieffer sits stone still while the jury reads its verdict acquitting him of murder, manslaughter, gang assault and falsifying public records. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
In their closing arguments, lawyers for the defendants argued to the jury that they should only consider what each defendant did individually, in isolation, without considering the group's collective actions as a whole. Viewed that way, they argued, their clients were not guilty.
While they may have used some force against Brooks, that force was lawful and justified to get him to comply with orders.
The evidence at trial also showed Brooks suffered injuries, including head injuries, before he was transferred to Marcy, that were inflicted by inmates at the Mohawk Correctional Facility. And the evidence showed the synthetic cannabinoid K2 was found in Brooks's blood after his death.
Defense lawyers argued those beatings and the K2 were the true cause of Brooks' death—even though the medical examiner who conducted Brooks' autopsy determined it was the attack by Marcy’s beat-up squad that killed him.
"Mr. Brooks cause of death is compression of the neck and multiple blunt impact injuries," Dr. Katya Merkulova concluded. "The manner of death is homicide."
The defendants were not charged with intending to kill Brooks. They were charged with acting so recklessly the killing was comparable to intentional murder because they, allegedly, acted with what the law calls "depraved indifference to human life."
Presiding judge Robert L. Bauer instructed the jury that while every murder may be "depraved," only especially heinous murders meet the law's definition of "depraved indifference." It was up to the jury to decide whether the killing of Brooks met this heightened standard of proof.
Except for Kingsley, they decided it did not. Then they went further, and acquitted the remaining guards of all charges.
Six more former Marcy guards have pled guilty to crimes related to Brooks' killing and their attempted cover-up.
Anthony Farina and Nicholas Anzalone pled guilty to first degree manslaughter in exchange for promised sentences of 22 years in September. They will be sentenced Nov. 21.
Christopher Walrath, who Kessler testified started Brooks' beating by striking the first blow, admitted guilt to first degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison Aug. 4.
Sgt. Michael Mashaw and guard David Walters pled guilty to second degree manslaughter for failing to stop the killing. Walters also ordered a nurse who attempted to enter the room to treat Brooks to stay out while the squad killed Brooks, video showed. Mashaw agreed to a 3-to-9 year sentence; Walters a 2 1/3-to-7 year sentence.
Nicholas Gentile was charged with evidence tampering. He pled 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 accused of second-degree manslaughter, Michael Fisher, won a separate trial scheduled for January.
Kinglsey being taken away to prison, while Special Prosecutor William F. Fitzpatrick preparing to leave the courtroom after the verdict to the right. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
After the jury left the room, judge Bauer revoked Kinglsey’s bail and remanded him to jail. His wife left the courthouse in tears under the escort of an armed court officer.
Jurors also left the building under armed guard.
Special Prosecutor Onondaga County District Attorney William F. Fitzpatrick prosecuted the guards. He gave an impromptu news conference in the hallway of the courthouse after the verdict.
“I respect the jury's verdict, obviously the two men who were acquitted, I felt differently, but now let’s see what the United States Attorney does with them,“ Fitzpatrick said. “There wasn’t a single thing I could have presented to that jury to make it more clear about the involvement of the two defendants. They disagreed and that’s life.”
Kieffer, one of the acquitted guards, also spoke.
“I’m very appreciative of how the jury was, and how they actually took their time to do their job,” he said.
He also expressed what he called “remorse” for Robert Brooks’ family.
“I do want to show my remorse for the family, what happened to them is not something that a family should go through,” he added.
Robert Brooks jr. was not in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Kevin Luibrand, Galliher’s attorney, said “He’s going straight home to his family. That’s all he cares about.”
“Robert Brooks' death was caused by officers who lost it,” Luibrand said. “They were unrestrained, poorly supervised, and they work in an environment that’s terrible. No excuse for what they did and we have complete sympathy for Mr. Brooks.”
Brooks’ family responded to the verdict by issuing a statement saying the jury made “the right decision in finding David Kingsley guilty of murder.”
“While it was hard to see Matthew Galliher and Nicholas Kieffer be given a pass,” the Brooks’ family statement added, “it highlights the need for systemic change.”
“Mr. Galliher and Mr. Kieffer were doing exactly what their prison supervisors expected them to do,” the statement concluded. “The guards indicted in this case were not a few bad apples; they were part of a rotten system, doing what state officials have allowed them to do.”
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