FIRST NY STATE PRISON GUARD PLEADS GUILTY TO KILLING ROBERT BROOKS, PROMISED 15-YEAR SENTENCE
THE DEC. 9, 2024 MURDER OF ROBERT BROOKS AT THE MARCY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY SET OFF A CRISIS THAT REMAINS ONGOING IN NEW YORK'S STATE PRISON SYSTEM
New York State Correction Officer Christopher Walrath pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter for killing Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2025. Photo credits: JB Nicholas.
May 5, 2025
One of the six state prison guards charged with murdering inmate Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility pleaded guilty in Utica Monday morning.
Christopher Walrath admitted guilt to first degree manslaughter in exchange for a promised sentence of 15 years in state prison and 5 years’ parole in state prison before Oneida County Court judge Robert Bauer.
Walrath admitted beating and choking Brooks. He also admitted he attempted to cover-up the killing by failing to report it.
Significantly, Walrath admitted he did not act alone. He admitted he assaulted Brooks with fellow Correction Officers Kieffer, Kessler and Anzalone outside Marcy’s arsenal—before Brooks was beaten and choked in the infirmary, where he later died.
Bauer set sentencing for Aug. 4. He allowed Walrath to remain free on bail in the meantime.
"This is a step in the right direction," civil rights leader Rev. Kevin McCall, who helped form the Justice of Robert Brooks Coalition, told The Free Lance. "If an officer commits a crime, they'll go to jail. It sets a good precedent for justice."
“A bright light for justice,” is what Ruben Lindo, a police accountability activist, called Walrath’s guilty plea and 15-year sentence. “it’s the first step toward cracking open the door to transparency , accountability and real reform in a broken system.”
Brooks, 43, was tortured and murdered by a "beat-up squad" of state prison guards inside the infirmary at Marcy on Dec. 9, 2024. It was unintentionally captured on video by body cameras worn by four of the guards.
The guards charged with murder are Nicholas J. Anzalone, Mathew J. Galliher, Anthony Farina, David J. Kingsley, Christopher Walrath and Nicholas Kieffer.
“This was a depraved situation that warranted a murder charge,” special prosecutor Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick said at a news conference after the guards' arraignments in State Supreme Court on Feb. 20, 2025
“There is no valid explanation,” Fitzpatrick explained. “No justification for what they did."
Galliher was also charged with gang assault, and Anzalone was also charged with filing a false report.
In addition to the six guards charged with murder, Sgt. Michael Mashaw, CO Michael Fisher and David Walters were charged with second degree manslaughter.
A tenth guard, Nicholas Gentile, was charged with evidence tampering.
Three more guards pleaded guilty to unknown charges in exchange for specific sentences. Fitzpatrick said he would disclose the charges and the sentences in the future.
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.
Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, said Brooks died as a result of a “massive beating to his body.” Guards also choked him: “repeated restrictions to his airways” caused “severe brain damage.” Ultimately Brooks’ “choked on his own blood.”
He was “clinically brain dead” within minutes of the attack, Fitzpatrick said.
Brooks was murdered by guards at Marcy 2 1/2 months before Messiah Nantwi, 22, was allegedly murdered by guards at the Mid-State Correctional Facility--another medium-security state prison across the road from Marcy.
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.
The week Brooks' killers were charged, state prison guards launched a state-wide wildcat strike.
Critics claimed the strike was timed to deflect attention from the charges, but the guards say it was the State's bungled response to an inmate disturbance at the Collins Correctional Facility the week before was the cause.
In response to a news release by Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, announcing a development in the case, Brooks' son, Robert Lee Brooks, said in a social media post that "it's the start of justice."
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