GUARD WHO CHOKED, STOMPED ON ROBERT BROOKS GENITALS CONVICTED OF A CRIME IN 2020
ANTHONY FARINA INFAMOUSLY KICKED ROBERT BROOKS IN THE GROIN BEFORE KILLING HIM WITH 12 OTHER GUARDS AT THE MARCY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY. AT LEAST ONE OF THE OTHER GUARDS HAS A CRIMINAL RECORD TOO, BUT ITS SEALED
Correction Officer Anthony Farina stomped on Robert Brooks genitals before killing him with other prison guards at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024. Rather than answer police questions about the killing, Farina resigned. Photo credit: body camera video via the New York State Attorney General’s office.
EXCLUSIVE
Jan 8., 2025
The prison guard captured on body camera video viciously stomping on inmate Robert Brooks' groin and gagging him with a rag before killing him pleaded guilty to a crime in 2020.
New York's prison system could have fired the guard, but allowed him to remain on the state's prison guard force notwithstanding his criminal conviction.
The guard, Anthony Farina, was one of the 13 Correction Officers accused of killing Robert Brooks by New York's Gov. Kathy Hochul. He beat, kicked and choked the 43-year-old Brooks to death at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024.
Infamously, Farina was captured on the body camera video stomping on Brooks' groin repeatedly. Farina also choked Brooks with a rag, the video shows.
Preliminary findings by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner are that Brooks was killed by "asphyxia due to compression of the neck," making it a homicide, Dr. Katya Merkulova reported. She autopsied Brooks' body Dec. 11,
Brooks suffered "multiple soft tissue hemorrhage of the muscles of the anterior right and left sides of the neck, hemorrhage overlapping the thyroid cartilage," Dr. Merkulova found, court records obtained by The Free Lance show. She also found "hemorrhage of the genital area soft tissue, the penis and both testes."
Farina, 50, was a member of Marcy's "beat-up squad," The Free Lance previously reported exclusively. Farina and the alleged leader of Marcy's beat-up squad, Sgt. Glenn Trombly, beat and choked William Alvarez to within an inch of his life with three other guards in 2020.
Trombly, like Farina, was also implicated in Brooks’ killing by Gov. Hochul. Rather than answer police investigators' questions, Farina resigned when they questioned him about Brooks' killing.
Five years before he allegedly killed Brooks, Farina, now 50, was arrested for driving drunk by State Troopers in Rome, New York on Nov. 14, 2019. Farina's blood alcohol level was above .08 of 1%—enough to make it a "per se" case of drunk driving under New York law. He was charged with a misdemeanor, court records exclusively obtained by The Free Lance show.
If Farina was previously convicted of drunk driving within 10 years, it would be a felony.
Todd Carville, the Oneida County District Attorney, did not respond to a request for information about the office's prosecution of Farina. Carville was elected in 2024, after serving as an assistant district attorney in the office for more than two decades.
Farina pleaded guilty to driving with ability impaired on Mar. 13, 2020. He was fined $500, court records show.
Farina's wife previously told The Free Lance her husband declined to comment about Brooks' killing.
At least one of the other guards accused of killing Brooks has a criminal record too, but it is sealed, The Free Lance has learned, also exclusively.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS, is responsible for managing New York's prison system. As Farina's employer, DOCCS could have fired Farina for the criminal conviction, but did not.
Thomas Mailey, DOCCS' spokesman, did not respond to a request for information about whether Farina was disciplined in any way for the conviction. Mailey also did not respond to a request for comment.
DOCCS will not release officers’ disciplinary records without a Freedom of Information Law request. However, DOCCS takes years to answer FOIL requests.
A DOCCS’ official, speaking to The Free Lance on background, said the Department’s policy is to automatically suspend correction officers without pay if they’re charged with a felony and to fire those who are convicted.
Misdemeanors, the official said, “would be dealt with on a case by case basis” in accordance with ”the due process ” requied by the contract DOCCS signed with the Correction Officers’ union.
Attorney General Letitia James was originally investigating Brooks' killing, but after The Free Lance exclusively revealed she was already defending Trombly and Farina from a federal civil rights lawsuit Alvarez filed, James assigned a special prosecutor to investigate Brooks' killing.
Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor James appointed, did not respond to a request to comment on the status of his investigation.
For tips or corrections, The Free Lance can be reached at jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me.