Latest news with #Walrath
San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Former New York prison guard sentenced to 15 years for beating death of inmate
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A former corrections officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for his role in the death of a Black inmate whose beating by a group of guards at an upstate New York prison was captured on bodycam videos. Christopher Walrath was one of six guards charged with murder in the death of Robert Brooks, who was pummeled at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. Walrath pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in May under the first plea deal among the guards charged with murder. 'In that video, I see you and your fellow officers treating him as if his life holds no value at all, as if you're entitled to brutalize him for sport,' Robert Brooks Jr., the victim's son, told the court. The son said in his victim impact statement that, 'I am not OK and I never will be.' 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. Under questioning in May from Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, Walrath admitted that he and other guards assaulted Brooks, that he put Brooks in a chokehold, and that he struck the inmate's body and groin. In addition to the six guards charged in February with murder, three more prison workers were indicted for manslaughter and another for evidence tampering. Prosecutors have said three other prison workers have reached agreements. A guard pleaded guilty in May to attempted tampering with physical evidence and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge. Trials were scheduled to begin in October for guards who have rejected plea deals. Fitzpatrick 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.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Former New York prison guard sentenced to 15 years for beating death of inmate
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A former corrections officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for his role in the death of a Black inmate whose beating by a group of guards at an upstate New York prison was captured on bodycam videos. Christopher Walrath was one of six guards charged with murder in the death of Robert Brooks, who was pummeled at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. Walrath pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in May under the first plea deal among the guards charged with murder. 'In that video, I see you and your fellow officers treating him as if his life holds no value at all, as if you're entitled to brutalize him for sport,' Robert Brooks Jr., the victim's son, told the court. The son said in his victim impact statement that, 'I am not OK and I never will be.' 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. Under questioning in May from Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, Walrath admitted that he and other guards assaulted Brooks, that he put Brooks in a chokehold, and that he struck the inmate's body and groin. In addition to the six guards charged in February with murder, three more prison workers were indicted for manslaughter and another for evidence tampering. Prosecutors have said three other prison workers have reached agreements. A guard pleaded guilty in May to attempted tampering with physical evidence and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge. Trials were scheduled to begin in October for guards who have rejected plea deals. Fitzpatrick 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.
5 days ago
Former New York prison guard sentenced to 15 years for beating death of inmate
UTICA, N.Y. -- A former corrections officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for his role in the death of a Black inmate whose beating by a group of guards at an upstate New York prison was captured on bodycam videos. Christopher Walrath was one of six guards charged with murder in the death of Robert Brooks, who was pummeled at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. Walrath pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in May under the first plea deal among the guards charged with murder. 'In that video, I see you and your fellow officers treating him as if his life holds no value at all, as if you're entitled to brutalize him for sport,' Robert Brooks Jr., the victim's son, told the court. The son said in his victim impact statement that, 'I am not OK and I never will be.' 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. Under questioning in May from Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, Walrath admitted that he and other guards assaulted Brooks, that he put Brooks in a chokehold, and that he struck the inmate's body and groin. In addition to the six guards charged in February with murder, three more prison workers were indicted for manslaughter and another for evidence tampering. Prosecutors have said three other prison workers have reached agreements. A guard pleaded guilty in May to attempted tampering with physical evidence and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge. Trials were scheduled to begin in October for guards who have rejected plea deals. Fitzpatrick 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.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Yahoo
N.Y. prison guard pleads guilty in fatal beating of inmate last year
May 5 (UPI) -- A New York prison guard pleaded guilty Monday as one of 10 corrections officers charged in the December killing of inmate Robert L. Brooks. Christopher Walrath, 36, pleaded guilty to a first-degree manslaughter charge and will spend the next 15 years in a state prison after he and nine other co-workers allegedly beat, kicked and punched Brooks in his face, groin area and abdomen in the infirmary on December 9 at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County. Brooks died hours later at a hospital in Utica. He is the only one of the 10 indicted guards to plead guilty. Walrath originally was indicted for second-degree murder but had the charge dropped to a lesser first-degree manslaughter charge as part of the guilty plea agreement. Onondaga County's District Attorney William Fitzpatrick called the guilty plea a "very important step." In January, Fitzpatrick was appointed as special prosecutor after the New York attorney general's office recused itself and jurors in Oneida County viewed evidence by Fitzpatrick's office. He said in court that the Brooks family, who were present Monday in court, accepted the plea offer. Walrath reportedly left his post to participate in the beating, put Brooks in a chokehold and struck him in the groin, with body cam footage depicting a large part of the brutality. Brooks, 43, was later seen bloodied and stripped to his underwear. Brooks was originally from Greece in Monroe County and had a parole hearing next year. In 2017, he was sentenced to 12 years in jail on a first-degree assault charge after he was arrested for stabbing his girlfriend multiple times. His death was ruled as a homicide, with the cause listed as a "compression of the neck and multiple blunt-impact injuries," according to the autopsy report, with preliminary findings showing extensive bruising, a broken nose and bleeding in the neck and genitals. Meanwhile, the Brooks family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in a federal court, calling New York's prison system "dangerously broken." A group of more than 100 ex-Marcy prison inmates in 2022 claimed widespread abuse and a "pervasive culture of fear and retaliation" in a report. The nine other co-workers of Walrath are due in court this month between May 13 through the 19th. Walrath is scheduled to be officially sentenced August 4 in front of Oneida County Court Judge Robert Bauer. He faces five years of post-release supervision after his 15-year prison sentence.
