UTICA, N.Y. — A former corrections officer was sentenced to fifteen years in jail Monday for his position within the loss of life of a Black inmate whose beating by a bunch of guards at an upstate New York jail was captured on bodycam movies.
Christopher Walrath was one among six guards charged with murder within the loss of life of Robert Brooks, who was pummeled on the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. Walrath pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in Might underneath the primary plea deal among the many guards charged with homicide.
“In that video, I see you and your fellow officers treating him as if his life holds no worth in any respect, as for those who’re entitled to brutalize him for sport,” Robert Brooks Jr., the sufferer’s son, instructed the court docket.
The son stated in his sufferer influence assertion that, “I’m not OK and I by no means might be.”
Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017 and was transferred to Marcy from a close-by lockup on the night time he was crushed. The movies present Brooks being struck within the chest with a shoe, lifted by his neck after which dropped.
Beneath questioning in Might from Onondaga County District Legal professional William Fitzpatrick, Walrath admitted that he and different guards assaulted Brooks, that he put Brooks in a chokehold, and that he struck the inmate’s physique and groin.
Along with the six guards charged in February with homicide, three extra jail employees had been indicted for manslaughter and one other for proof tampering. Prosecutors have stated three different jail employees have reached agreements.
A guard pleaded guilty in May to tried tampering with bodily proof and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.
Trials had been scheduled to start in October for guards who’ve rejected plea offers.
Fitzpatrick is also prosecuting guards in the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at one other Marcy lockup, the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Ten guards had been indicted in April, together with two who’re charged with homicide.
Each prisons are about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of New York Metropolis.
