UTICA, N.Y. — A New York prison guard who watched without intervening as fellow officers beat an inmate to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final criminal trial stemming from the death of Robert Brooks. Special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick delivered closing arguments in the second-degree manslaughter trial of former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, in state court in Utica. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Fisher is the last of 10 guards indicted in the Dec. 9, 2024 beating death of Brooks, a 43-year-old Black man killed upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility. Body-camera footage of the attack provoked widespread outrage, drove criminal prosecutions of multiple officers, and has prompted reforms in New York’s prison system — though advocates say chronic understaffing and neglect persist.
“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney, told jurors during closing arguments.
Video shown to the jury during closing arguments indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and did not intervene. Officers in the footage could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe and lifting him by the neck before dropping him. The beating was recorded on the officers’ body cameras but with no audio.
Defense argues limited knowledge
Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, asked jurors to weigh what his client could have perceived at the time.
“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said. Iseman argued Fisher entered the infirmary after the beating had already begun and could not have known the extent of Brooks’ injuries.
Fitzpatrick rejected that framing. “Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” he said.
Final trial in a series of prosecutions
Of the 10 guards indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges and three others agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in return for reduced charges. Of the four who rejected plea deals and went to trial, one was convicted of murder and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall. Fisher stood alone as the last to face a jury.
Reforms announced, conditions questioned
The Brooks case has driven changes in New York’s prisons. Gov. Kathy Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that requires cameras to be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators. The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18.
The case unfolded against broader turmoil. After the indictments were unsealed in February, an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers paralyzed the system. Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations, and more than 2,000 guards were fired. About 3,000 National Guard members remain serving in the state prison system, according to state officials.
Advocates say the underlying conditions persist. “The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher’s trial.
Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi, who died on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, located across the road from the Marcy prison. Ten other guards were indicted in Nantwi’s death in April, including two charged with murder.