Former New York corrections officer sentenced to 15 years in beating death of inmate Robert Brooks

A former Marcy Correctional officer received 15 years for the 2023 beating death of inmate Robert Brooks.

Brooks, a 43-year-old Black inmate, died after a bodycam-recorded assault involving multiple prison guards.

Former Marcy Correctional officer Christopher Walrath sentenced for Robert Brooks beating

Christopher Walrath, 36, pleaded guilty in May to first-degree manslaughter, admitting he placed Brooks in a chokehold and struck him repeatedly in the body and groin.

Robert Brooks harrowing experience in correctional facility

Officials transferred Brooks to Marcy Correctional Facility from Mohawk Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024. Within hours of arrival, he was attacked by a group of officers while handcuffed and seated in a medical exam room. Prosecutors said Brooks was compliant and posed no threat when the assault began. He died the next morning from blunt force trauma and compression of the neck.

“This was just his ‘Welcome to Marcy,’” said special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick, who emphasized that Brooks had done “absolutely nothing” to provoke the attack.

Video footage

Bodycam footage released by the New York Attorney General’s Office showed Walrath and other guards punching and kicking Brooks while others stood by without intervening.

You can watch the body camera footage on YouTube. 

Brooks served a 12-year sentence for a 2017 assault conviction and expected to be released in 2026. His son, Robert Brooks Jr., delivered a powerful victim impact statement in court, saying, “You treated him as if his life had no value… I’m not OK and I never will be”.

Prosecutors initially charged Walrath and five other officers with murder in Brooks’ death. They charged three others with manslaughter and one with evidence tampering. Courts plan to begin trials in October for those who declined plea deals.