LAST PRISON GUARD CHARGED WITH KILLING ROBERT BROOKS STARTS TRIAL
MICHAEL FISHER IS CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHER FOR FAILING TO STOP FELLOW GUARDS FROM TORTURING AND KILLING BROOKS AT THE MARCY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Michael Fisher worked as a prison guard for 20 years. At his manslaughter trial in Oneida County Court on Tuesday. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
UTICA, NEW YORK Jan. 13, 2025
The final chapter of the Robert Brooks killing-by-prison-guards case started with the manslaughter trial of Michael Fisher in a Utica courtroom Tuesday morning.
"Robert Brooks was beaten to death right in front of this defendant," the Special Prosecutor in the case, Onondaga County District Attorney William F. Fitzpatrick, said in his opening argument to the jury. "He did nothing to assist, intervene, to stop it in any shape, manner or form. 20 years on the job and he stood there and watched a man's life being snuffed out."
Fisher had worked as a correction officer for the agency that manages New York's prisons, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, for 20 years at the time Brooks was killed.
In spite of that experience, Fitzpatrick told the jury Fisher "never intervened. He never said 'Enough!' .... He never said, 'That's enough I'm turning on my camera.'"
"Seven words that could have saved this man's life," Fitzpatrick thundered. “He didn't even take the four seconds to utter those seven words."
Brooks, a Black 43-year-old from Rochester, was killed by an all-white gang of state prison guards at the Marcy Correctional Facility outside Utica on Dec. 9, 2024. 9 guards have been convicted for killing Brooks or attempting to cover-up the murder. Most received substantial prison sentences. One was sentenced to 25-years-to-life. Two were acquitted.
Special Prosecutor William F. Fitzpatrick illustrates how prison guards stomped on Robert Brooks genitals while torturing and killing him in front of guard Michael Fisher at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Fisher is the last of them. His lawyer, Scott Iseman, got Oneida County judge Robert Bauer to separate his trial from the trial of the three other guards who didn't plead guilty—which was held last October. For failing to stop the group from killing Brooks in his presence, Fisher is charged with second degree manslaughter. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
Iseman fired back at Fitzpatrick by telling the jury Fisher "had nothing to do with it." He "wasn't part of restraining him in any way." Fisher didn't know, Iseman argued, "the devastating violence his colleagues had placed on Mr. Brooks before he walked into that room."
"The Government does not have the facts and the evidence," Iseman pressed. "The facts and the evidence demonstrate that he [Fisher] did not recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks." The only "verdict the facts and evidence are going to allow at the end of this trial is that Mr. Fisher is not guilty."
To convict Fisher, New York law requires Fitzpatrick to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Fisher acted in concert with the other guards and that they recklessly ignored a risk of death to Brooks that in fact caused his death. The central question for the jury to decide is whether Fisher's presence at the scene of the crime with the other guards or anything else shows he was "acting in concert" with them.
The killing took place in a treatment room in Marcy's infirmary nick-named the “Emergency Room.” It was inadvertently captured by body-worn cameras four of the guards—including Fisher—wore. They were turned on but not activated to record. The video was captured in stand-by mode. Because its lower-grade, "recovered" video it lacks sound.
The video shows Fisher stood there while the gang punched beat, choked and stomped on Brooks' genitals until blood poured from his nose and he passed out. Two nurses were just outside the Emergency Room, but were prevented from rendering aid to Brooks by the officers. Fisher's physical presence in the doorway also discouraged them from entering.
Instead of attempting to stop his colleagues, at one point Fisher smiles as Brooks is breathing his last breaths, the video shows.
Scott Iseman, Michael Fisher’s defense lawyer, told the jury his client did nothing wrong during his opening statement. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Ordinarily, New York Attorney General Letitia James investigates deaths in law enforcement custody. James had to recuse herself from investigating Brooks' killing because her office was already defending some of the guards against excessive force claims made by other prisoners in federal civil rights lawsuits filed before Brooks was killed. She asked a judge to appoint Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick has his work cut out for him to convict Fisher.
At the October trial, Fitzpatrick won the murder conviction of David J. Kingsley II. But two of the three defendants, Nicholas Kieffer and Mathew Galliher, were acquitted. Kieffer peppersprayed Brooks and Galliher helped restrain him. They did more than Fisher is accused of.
After the jury rendered its verdict, journalists asked jurors to explain their decision. The jurors were hostile and all but one refused to talk to the press. That one juror seemed angry he had to convict anyone at all. He also said he was angry for being forced to deliberate over a weekend and for having to come back to court on Monday. Like the whole thing wasn’t worth their time.
In a twist of fate that shows how small and potentially biased the jury pool in Utica is, and how many Uticans are connected to the four state prisons outside Utica, Galliher the acquitted defendant was summoned to serve on Fisher's jury.
He appeared at the frontdoor of the courthouse for jury selection Monday morning. He was excused without having to actually enter the courtroom where Fisher's trial is being held—the same courtroom where he was tried and acquitted.
Iseman, Fisher’s lawyer, disputes that his client had a duty to intervene to stop his fellow officers from killing Brooks. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
The trial is being held in the ceremonial courtroom of the Oneida County Courthouse, where the ceilings are 30 feet tall and skylights let the sun shine in—when it isn't covered by mid-winter clouds, as it was on Monday and again on Tuesday.
During opening arguments on Tuesday, Kieffer's mother was inside the courtroom to show support for Fisher. She declined to speak with the press.
After opening arguments, prosecutors called witnesses who laid the foundation for the body-camera video to be introduced into evidence. They also called a State Police investigator who took a video of the areas of the prison where Brooks was taken before he was killed.
Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, is expected to conclude the presentation of the People's case late on Wednesday. Iseman, Fisher's lawyer, said he might or might not present evidence in Fisher's defense. A verdict is possible by Friday.
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