More former prison guards sentenced in Robert Brooks beating case
More former guards were sentenced in Robert Brooks' death, keeping pressure on Albany over prison oversight after a body-camera beating that shocked Central New York.
The sentencing of more former corrections officers in the Robert Brooks case has turned a deadly beating at Marcy Correctional Facility into a wider test of how New York watches its prisons. Brooks, a 43-year-old from Greece, died on Dec. 10, 2024, one day after the assault that was caught on body-worn camera footage and later released by the New York Attorney General’s Office.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick was appointed special prosecutor in January 2025 after Attorney General Letitia James recused her office. Ten former prison employees were indicted in the case. Six faced second-degree murder charges and four were charged with lesser offenses, including manslaughter and evidence tampering, making the prosecution one of the most significant prison-violence cases in recent New York history.
Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina each received 22-year sentences after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Michael Mashaw was sentenced to 3 to 9 years, and David Walters received 2 years, 4 months to 7 years. In November 2025, four other former corrections officers were sentenced, while David Kingsley was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. Two other guards were acquitted, a split outcome that has left the case as much about institutional failure as individual punishment.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017 and was scheduled for release in 2026. Prosecutors said he was pummeled while handcuffed at Marcy after being transferred there from Mohawk Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024. His son said watching the video was like watching a horror movie, a reaction that helped drive public outrage far beyond Oneida County and deep into Syracuse and other parts of Central New York.
The case has also forced a political response in Albany. Family members and advocates pressed Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to act after Brooks’ death, and Sen. Julia Salazar introduced prison reform legislation. Lawmakers later advanced the Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus Bill, but the real measure for Onondaga County families with loved ones behind bars, and for taxpayers funding the system, is whether the state changes the command culture and oversight failures that let the violence happen in the first place.
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