Officer pleads guilty to manslaughter in fatal beating of New York inmate Robert Brooks

An officer on Monday pleaded guilty to felony manslaughter in connection with the 2024 fatal beating of New York inmate Robert Brooks.

An officer on Monday pleaded guilty to felony manslaughter in connection with the 2024 fatal beating of New York inmate Robert Brooks.

Christopher Walrath, 36, appeared before Judge Robert L. Bauer in Oneida County Court to enter his plea. Walrath is one of six correctional officers charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in connection with beating Brooks on Dec. 9 in a medical exam room in Marcy Correctional Facility.

Walrath answered "yes" to a series of questions asked by Bauer and the prosecutor, including if he and the co-defendants assaulted Brooks and if he put the inmate "in a chokehold against departmental policy and procedure." Walrath also admitted to not reporting the use of force against Brooks and that the repeated assaults against Brooks ultimately caused his death.

Robert Brooks in a medical exam room at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., on Dec. 9, 2024.Office of the New York State Attorney GeneralWalrath is out on bond, under the conditions that he commits no new offenses and appears in court when asked. He will be sentenced on August 4.

Late last year, body camera footage released by the New York attorney general’s office showed the officers punching and kicking Brooks while he was handcuffed to an infirmary bed at Marcy Correctional Facility.