The wind howled outside the courthouse as David Kingsley stood before Judge Robert Bauer and was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the beating death of Robert Brooks.
Brooks, an incarcerated individual transferred to Marcy Corrections Facility on Dec. 9, 2024, was brutally beaten with his hands cuffed behind his back by corrections officers while in custody. He died as a result of his injuries on Dec. 10, 2024. An autopsy was conducted by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office and, in February, Brooks’ death was ruled a homicide.
Three of the four corrections officers who had not taken a plea deal with the special prosecutor have been on trial; David Kingsley, Mathew Galliher, and Nicholas Kieffer.
Robert Brooks Jr., Brooks’ son, and Jared Ricks, Brooks’ brother, had a chance to deliver a victim impact statement directly to Kingsley.
Brooks Jr. said he remembered watching his father being beaten and feeling like he was stuck in a horror movie.
Ricks said the number of lives affected by the death of his brother has been unthinkable and that the actions of the corrections officers at Marcy robbed Brooks of his life, liberty, and happiness.
“I pray that the court imposes a sentence severe enough to tell correctional officers that they cannot treat incarcerated individuals like animals and I pray that this court imposes a sentence severe enough to tell incarcerated individuals that their lives matter,” Brooks Jr. said.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Watch Robert Brooks Jr. deliver victim impact statement
Reporting by Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
