ROBERT BROOKS WAS ALREADY HURT BEFORE HE WAS KILLED BY GUARDS, GUARD PLEADS 5TH IN COURT
ROBERT BROOKS HAD A 'HEAD INJURY' WHEN HE WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE MARCY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, COURT TESTIMONY REVEALED ON TUESDAY
Correction Officer Mathew Galliher pleded the Fifth in court on Tuesday when asked about his alleged role in killing Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. The State Police are seeking a court order to seize his guns. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
EXCLUSIVE
Jan. 14, 2025
UTICA, NY—The inmate killed by New York State Correction Officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility last month was already injured when he was transferred to Marcy for his protection.
The revelation that guards not only attacked Robert Brooks , but that they did so knowing he already had a head injury, came in a special hearing in State Supreme Court in Utica on Tuesday.
At the same hearing, Mathew Galliher, one of the guards accused of killing Brooks, invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify about the night Brooks was killed.
"I refuse to answer that on my Fifth Amendment rights," Galliher said, six times
Outside court after the hearing Galliher’s lawyer, Kevin A. Luibrand, claimed his client “didn’t do anything wrong.”
Body camera video made public by Attorney General Letitia James shows Galliher at least grabbing Brooks near the neck, if not by the neck, and pushing his handcuffed body flat on top of a table with other officers who punch and choke Brooks repeatedly.
The video shows Galliher shackling Brooks' feet while Brooks is already handcuffed behind the back and pinned to a table. The video shows Galliher standing in the room, watching Brooks be tortured, and failing to stop it.
While the criminal investigation into Brooks' killing remains ongoing, James' office is representing the State Police in a Red Flag gun law petition against Galliher. The State Police seek a court order prohibiting Galliher from possessing or purchasing a gun for a year. They also seek a court order allowing a search of Galliher's home and seizure of any gun found.
While Galliher surrendered a pistol he was licensed to carry as a Correction Officer, State Police believe there's a safe in Galliher's house that may contain "long guns or other firearms," Assistant Attorney General Michael J. Whalen told Justice Peter M. Rayhill at Tuesday afternoon's hearing.
Galliher, Whalen alleged, qualified to have his guns seized under the Red Flag law because the video showed Galliher "putting hands on" Brooks "while he was being pummeled by other officers."
Galliher left the room, Whalen charged, "and still came back in to put restraints on an individual who had his hands tied behind his back." Galliher and the other guards demonstrated "callous, calm, demeanor" while committing crimes which show "he believes it's OK to be done."
State prison investigator Ryan Paparella testified in support of the State's case to disarm Galliher.
Mohwak Correctional Facility, Jan. 7, 2025. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
Brooks "was involved in an altercation with two other" inmates and "sustained a head injury at Mohawk" Correctional Facility, Paparella testified. "Due to his safety it was thought best for him to be transferred to Marcy."
Instead of protecting Brooks, guards at Marcy including Galliher killed him on Dec. 9.
Paparella worked with Galliher and the other guards at Marcy before becoming an investigator with the Department of Corrections and Community Supervisions' Office of Special Investigations.
Paparella and Galliher met in the hallway outside the courtroom before the hearing and avoided eye-contact. Inside the courtroom, the Assistant Attorney General asked Paparella to point out Galliher and even then Galliher averted his gaze—but he could not hide from the long, accusatory finger Paparella pointed at him.
When the body camera video showing Galliher and the other guards brutalizing Brooks was played in the courtroom, Galliher planted his left elbow on the table and his chin on top of a clenched fist and watched the video.
Kevin A. Luibrand, Galliher's lawyer, argued the State Police hadn't proved the Red Flag law applied to the case and, even if they did, they made Galliher's home address public record and now "they want to make him defenseless."
"If there's ever a time in his life when he needs to defend himself, it's now," Luibrand argued.
Galliher didn't "engage in violent conduct toward Mr. Brooks," Luibrand claimed, notwithstanding the video showing otherwise. "They're lumping him in with everyone else."
Justice Rayhill deflated Luibrand's argument with the simple three word phrase the law uses to describe individual criminal liability for group action: "acting-in-concert."
"There's a circumstance here that's certainly acting in concert," Justice Rayhill observed.
James' office originally filed four Reg Flag petitions to disarm Galliher, CO Nicholas J. Anzalone, CO Robert T. Kessler and CO David J. Kingsley, II. Kessler consented to surrendering his weapons, Anzalone's Red Flag hearing is scheduled for Jan. 28 and a judge in Jefferson County, where Kingsley lives, is still deciding whether to disarm him after a Jan. 7 hearing.
Justice Rayhill reserved his decision on whether to disarm Galliher.
Attorney General James, who released the body camera video, originally investigated Brooks' killing but then appointed a special prosecutor, Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick basically said he's not going to arrest anyone unless and until a Grand Jury indicts them.
Galliher declined to comment outside the courthouse.
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