By Tiffany Williams –
Four prison guards admitted Monday to their roles in the savage beating death of a Black inmate at an upstate New York lockup — a brutal attack caught on bodycam video that sparked outrage across the state.
Robert Brooks, 43, was handcuffed when he was pummeled inside Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. The disturbing footage shows guards striking him in the chest with a shoe, hoisting him by the neck and dropping him to the ground. He died shortly after.
Two of the guards — Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina — had been facing murder charges but pleaded guilty in Utica court to first-degree manslaughter. Both men, who have since quit, will each get 22 years behind bars when sentenced Nov. 21.
Brooks’ son welcomed the deals. “It is important to us to see my father’s killers publicly admit what they have done and face severe consequences,” Robert Brooks Jr. said in a statement.
Two other guards, Michael Mashaw and David Walters, copped to second-degree manslaughter. Mashaw faces three to nine years in prison, while Walters is looking at two years, four months to seven years. They, too, have resigned.
In May, another guard, Christopher Walrath, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years. Yet another was convicted of attempted evidence tampering and walked with a conditional discharge.
Four more guards — including three still facing murder charges — are slated for trial Oct. 6.
Special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick of Onondaga County is also leading the case against 10 other guards indicted in the March 1 death of Messiah Nantwi at nearby Mid-State Correctional Facility. Two of those men are charged with murder.
Both prisons sit about 180 miles northwest of New York City.