3 more COs decide to go to trial in Brooks case; 1 takes plea deal

Casey Pritchard

Utica Observer Dispatch

USA TODAY NETWORK

Four more corrections officers allegedly involved in the death of Robert Brooks stood before Judge Robert Bauer, with one accepting a plea bargain.

Michael Fisher was charged with second-degree manslaughter. Michael Mashaw was charged with second-degree manslaughter. David Walters was charged with second-degree manslaughter. Nicholas Gentile was charged with tampering with evidence.

All four were before the judge May14 after an adjournment was requested in April.

If convicted, Fish, Mashaw and Walters face five to 15 years in prison. Had they accepted the plea bargain, they would have been sentenced to four to 12 years.

Gentile, charged with tampering with evidence and facing a lighter sentence than those facing murder and manslaughter charges, accepted his plea bargain.

Gentile pleaded to the lesser charge of attempted tampering with physical evidence, a misdemeanor, and is accepting a sentence of one year conditional discharge and must '...entirely resign his employment from corrections no later than June1 and maintain that resignation.'

Onondaga County Chief Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Woodfork said the plea bargain offered had been discussed with the family.

'It had been the understanding that Gentile was never considered a person who physically struck Robert Brooks or had any involvement in the assault,' Woodfork said.

Where the case stands

One of the corrections officers involved, Christopher Walrath, accepted his plea deal May5, pleading to the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter.

Of the officers involved at time of writing, seven are now going forward with a trial. The officers involved in the case are and when they are due back in court are as follows:

•Nicholas Anzalone was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. He is due back in court May19.

•Nicholas Kieffer was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree gang assault, and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. He is due back in court June3.

•Michael Fisher was charged with second-degree manslaughter. He is due back in court June4.

•Michael Mashaw was charged with second-degree manslaughter. He is due back in court June4.

•Mathew Galliher was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and second-degree gang assault. He is due back in court May19.

•Anthony Farina was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. He is due back in court June3.

•David Kingsley was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. He is due back in court June3.

•David Walters was charged with second-degree manslaughter. He is due back in court June4.

A look at the case

Robert Brooks, an inmate who was transferred to Marcy Corrections Facility in December, was beaten with his hands cuffed behind his back by corrections officers while in custody. He was serving a sentence for first-degree assault.

An autopsy was conducted by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office, and Brooks’ death was ruled a homicide in February.

'From the autopsy, I can confirm the report indicates the cause of death is compression of the neck and multiple blunt force injuries,' said Elizabeth Mazur, one of the lawyers representing the Brooks estate

At a news conference in February, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said Robert Brooks '...died choking on his own blood' after three separate beatings.

Brooks’s beating at the hands of corrections officers was captured by bodycam footage.

Fitzpatrick also said from the moment Brooks arrived, he was being beaten. Upon stepping off the bus from Mohawk Correctional, Brooks was taken into the arsenal — the area between bus pickup and the correctional facility. From here, he was beaten on the way to the infirmary, where all new inmates are supposed to be given a physical before being put into general population.