New York Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed the verdict handed down Monday in the beating death of Robert Brooks, who was killed while incarcerated at Marcy Correctional Facility last December.
The Oneida County jury found David Kingsley guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges, while finding Mathew Galliher and Nicholas Kieffer not guilty of murder, manslaughter and second-degree gang assault, and Kieffer not guilty of offering a false instrument for filing.
Hochul commended Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who served as special prosecutor, but expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that two of the three charged were not convicted.
“I’m disappointed by the acquittals in the case,” she said. “I respect the jury’s decision— there was one correction officer found guilty.”
The governor then went a step further, seemingly addressing those who were cleared.
“It’s a scale that is just incompressible,” she said. “I walked in the room where he was murdered and it’s still hard to remember and think about the depravity that had to go on in that room, and those who witnessed it should know in their hearts that they are guilty.”
Hochul, who never tells the press whether she plans to sign or veto pending legislation, was unusually descriptive Monday when it comes to a package of reform bills passed by the state Legislature in Brooks’ honor this spring. The bills focus largely on oversight and accountability, and did not include some of the more extensive reforms sought by activists like parole and sentencing reforms.
“There is a number of reform bills that are on my desk now, passed last session,” she said. “As we wind down the last few hundred bills, I’ll be giving that a lot of attention. We’re going to be making systemic changes in light of what happened. There is no other alternative.”
Despite those comments, activists have expressed concern about the possibility of the reforms being watered down in three-way negotiations.
Various prison reforms have already been initiated in light of Brooks’ murder as well as the three-week illegal correction officer strike earlier this year. They include expanded use of cameras, language in the state budget which lowered the age for correction officers from 21 to 18 for some positions to boost staffing, and the introduction of new mail scanning equipment.
An outside review of the state’s prison culture conducted by firm WilmerHale is ongoing, with a source familiar telling Spectrum News 1 that findings can be expected as soon as later this year.