The murder trial of three former corrections officers charged in the deadly beating of inmate Robert Brooks started earlier this week. Mathew Galliher, Nicholas Kieffer, and David Kingsley face charges of murder and first-degree manslaughter.
Body camera footage partially captured the attack at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024.
In his opening statement, Onondaga County (NY) District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told jurors they would see “massive evidence” that the officers intended to cause harm to Brooks.
Fitzpatrick described the incident to the jurors, accusing the men of pinning Brooks down as they took turns beating him and pepper-spraying him. Brooks was transferred to Marcy from a nearby jail where he had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017.
“They no longer were corrections officers. They were a gang,” Fitzpatrick said in his opening statement.
The videos, which garnered public outrage, show officers beating Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck, and dropping him.
Defense attorneys said the evidence will demonstrate the officers did not act with malice or “depraved indifference to human life.”
“The prosecution is attempting to tie Nicholas Kieffer to the actions of others, suggesting to you that he is somehow responsible via association,” said his attorney, David Longeretta, ABC News reported.
Galliher’s attorney, Kevin Luibrand, said his client only shackled Brooks to prevent him from kicking, but Galliher didn’t take part in the actions that led to 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,” Luibrand said as reported by ABC News. “He didn’t do anything that contributed to the death of Robert Brooks.”
Prosecutors charged seven other prison guards in connection with the case. Six of them have accepted plea deals.
If convicted, the three former officers could face in life in prison, according to the (Utica, NY) Observer-Dispatch.
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