3 Former Prison Guards On Trial For Death Of Robert Brooks

Three former New York prison guards are currently on trial for the beating death of Robert Brooks while he was in custody.

According to ABC News, Mathew Galliher, Nicholas Kieffer, and David Kingsley are charged with murder and first-degree manslaughter over the death of Robert Brooks. In 2017, Brooks was sentenced to 12 years in prison for first-degree assault. On Dec. 9, Brooks was transferred from a nearby lockup to the Marcy Correctional Facility, where the beating took place. Bodycam footage revealed Brooks was still handcuffed when the prison guards began beating him. The assault started unprovoked, almost as soon as Brooks entered the prison.

The footage shows the guards taking turns punching him, choking him, and lifting him by his neck and dropping him. “They no longer were corrections officers. They were a gang,” Fitzpatrick said in his opening statement. “They took turns — collectively and individually — of punching him, kneeing him, pepper spraying him, choking him, pinning him down, cuffing his legs,” Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said in his opening statement.

Fitzpatrick added that Robert Brooks was beaten three separate times, with the final, fatal beating occurring in the prison’s infirmary. An autopsy conducted by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Brooks’ death as a homicide as a result of compression to the neck and blunt trauma to the body.

In court, Fitzpatrick went into greater detail about the severity of the beating. He said Brooks suffered a broken bone in his neck, a ripped thyroid cartilage, and several of his internal organs were bruised. The repeated choking restricted his airways, resulting in Robert Brooks suffering from brain damage and choking on his own blood.

Defense attorneys for Galliher and Kieffer argued that, despite all of that evidence and the body camera footage, the prosecution wouldn’t be able to prove their clients acted with malice or “depraved indifference to human life.”

I’m no legal expert, but allegedly beating a man to death in an infirmary sounds an awful lot like depraved indifference to human life. I don’t know how anyone can watch that bodycam footage and not come away with that opinion.

Both attorneys argued that neither Galliher nor Kieffer contributed to the beating that resulted in Robert Brooks’ death.

“Mathew Galliher didn’t harm Robert Brooks. He didn’t hit him, he didn’t strike him, he didn’t encourage others to strike him, he didn’t deny him medical care,” Galliher’s attorney, Kevin Luibrand, said. “He didn’t do anything that contributed to the death of Robert Brooks.”

“The prosecution is attempting to tie Nicholas Kieffer to the actions of others, suggesting to you that he is somehow responsible via association,” Kieffer’s attorney, David Longeretta, said.

Ten prison guards were charged in the death of Robert Brooks, with Galliher, Kieffer, and Kingsley among the six prison guards charged with murder and manslaughter. Four of the guards have already pleaded guilty to lesser charges and were sentenced to terms ranging from two to 22 years in prison. A fourth officer will stand trial in January for second-degree manslaughter. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement earlier this year calling for the prison guards to face charges.

“Those responsible for Mr. Brooks’ death must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Hochul’s statement said. “This reprehensible act of violence demands the full force of our justice system — the family of Mr. Brooks deserves no further delays.”

Brooks was one of two Black men killed by New York prison guards within three months. In March, Messiah Nantwi died from injuries sustained from a series of beatings by guards in New York’s Mid-State Correctional Facility. Ten guards were also indicted in that case, with two charged with murder. Fitzpatrick is also prosecuting the guards involved in Nantwi’s death.

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3 Former New York Prison Guards On Trial For Beating Death Of Robert Brooks was originally published on newsone.com