Four guards plead guilty in brutal beating death of Black inmate at New York prison

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UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — Four prison guards pleaded guilty Monday in the death of a Black inmate whose brutal beating at an upstate New York prison was captured on bodycam videos.

The pleas came two weeks before the start of trial for a group of guards accused in the death of Robert Brooks, who was pummeled while handcuffed at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. The beating of the restrained 43-year-old man triggered outrage and calls for reform.

Four of the 10 guards indicted in February are still headed to trial Oct. 6, including three accused of murder.

Two guards facing a top charge of murder pleaded guilty in a Utica court to a lesser charge in the indictment: first-degree manslaughter. Under the agreements, Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina, who have both resigned, will be sentenced to 22 years in state prison on Nov. 21.

Brooks' relatives welcomed what they called a measure of justice.

“It is important to us to see my father’s killers publicly admit what they have done and face severe consequences,” Robert Brooks Jr., the victim’s son, said in a prepared release.

Two more men charged with second-degree manslaughter also pleaded guilty. Michael Mashaw will be sentenced to three to nine years in prison. and David Walters will be sentenced to two years, four months to seven years in prison. Mashaw has resigned. Walters' status was unclear Monday.

Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017 and was transferred to Marcy from a nearby lockup on the night he was beaten. The videos show Brooks being struck in the chest with a shoe, lifted by his neck and then dropped.

The first plea in the case came in May, when a guard charged with murder pleaded guilty to manslaughter under a deal with prosecutors. Christopher Walrath, who resigned, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in August.

Another guard pleaded guilty later in May to attempted tampering with physical evidence and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.

The special prosecutor in the case is Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who also is prosecuting guards in the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at another Marcy lockup, the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Ten guards were indicted in April, including two who are charged with murder.

Both prisons are about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of New York City.