Four guards plead guilty in brutal beating death of Black inmate at New York prison
Two guards admit first-degree manslaughter; two others plead to second-degree manslaughter as trial looms for remaining defendants in the Robert Brooks case at Marcy Correctional Facility
UTICA, N.Y. Four prison guards pleaded guilty Monday in the death of a Black inmate whose beating at the Marcy Correctional Facility was captured on body-worn cameras. The pleas come two weeks before the Oct. 6 start of trial for a group of guards indicted in connection with the death of Robert Brooks, who was pummeled while handcuffed at the upstate facility on Dec. 9. Brooks’ case drew widespread outrage and renewed calls for reform of prison violence and oversight.
Two guards facing the top charge of murder pleaded guilty in Utica to a lesser count, first-degree manslaughter, under plea agreements. Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina, who have both resigned, will be sentenced to 22 years in state prison on Nov. 21. Under the agreements, the sentences reflect the manslaughter pleas in exchange for resolving the indictment on the murder charge.
Two more men charged with second-degree manslaughter also pleaded guilty. Michael Mashaw will be sentenced to three to nine years in prison, while David Walters is to face a sentence ranging from two years, four months to seven years. Mashaw has resigned; Walters’ status was unclear Monday.
The timing places these pleas just ahead of additional trials in the case. Ten guards were indicted in February, and the Oct. 6 date was set for the remaining defendants, including three charged with murder, to proceed. A parallel group of defendants in another Marcy facility case will be tried later, as prosecutors continue to pursue accountability for the broader Marcy lockups.
Earlier in the year, other plea agreements shaped the evolving narrative of the Brooks case. In May, Christopher Walrath, a guard who had faced a murder charge, pleaded guilty to manslaughter under a deal with prosecutors and was later sentenced to 15 years in prison in August. A separate defendant pleaded guilty to attempted tampering with physical evidence and received a one-year conditional discharge. Collectively, the pleas reflect a pattern of lesser charges in exchange for cooperation and admissions of responsibility.
The case is being prosecuted by Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who is serving as a special prosecutor in the Brooks matter. Fitzpatrick’s office is also handling the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at the Mid-State Correctional Facility, another Marcy-area lockup, where additional guards are facing charges. The involvement of a single prosecutor in multiple related cases underscores the Department of Corrections–era issues around violence and oversight in upstate facilities.
Brooks, 43, 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. Video footage shows him being struck in the chest with a shoe, lifted by the neck and dropped while restrained, prompting widespread condemnation and calls for reform. Brooks’ family welcomed the pleas as a measure of accountability, with his son Robert Brooks Jr. saying the family wanted his father’s killers to publicly acknowledge their actions and face consequences.
The two Marcy prisons are roughly 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of New York City. As the legal process unfolds, prosecutors have stressed that the cases are about accountability for a violent incident that touched a national conversation about how corrections officers are trained, monitored and held to legal standards when inmates are in their custody.