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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 since the incident, 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 and Walters
also have resigned.
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.
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