(Mugshot of former correctional officer David Kingsley)
UTICA, N.Y. — A former Marcy Correctional Facility guard was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in state prison for the murder and manslaughter of inmate Robert L. Brooks, a judge in Oneida County Court announced. The sentence represents the maximum penalty under New York law following a high-profile prosecution that has drawn national attention to violence and accountability in the state’s prison system.
David Kingsley, an ex-corrections officer, was convicted by a jury in October of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in connection with Brooks’s death. Brooks, 43, was fatally beaten by multiple officers on December 9, 2024, at Marcy Correctional Facility while he was handcuffed and restrained, a brutal assault that was captured on body-camera footage and sparked widespread outrage.
At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors pushed for the maximum term, noting the gravity of the violence caught on video and the need to deter similar misconduct by corrections personnel. Family members of Brooks urged the court to impose a stiff penalty in honor of his life and to send a message about consequences for abuse of authority.
(Victim: Robert L. Brooks)
Kingsley’s sentence also includes a 25-year term for manslaughter in addition to the life term for murder. He was the only officer convicted of murder in the case; five other guards charged in connection with the beating have pleaded guilty to manslaughter in prior proceedings, while some co-defendants were acquitted or face separate trials.
Brooks, who had been serving a 12-year sentence for a prior assault conviction, was transferred to Marcy on the night he was beaten. The body-camera footage from that day showed him being punched, kicked and lifted by the neck before collapsing from his injuries, prompting calls from civil rights advocates and lawmakers for prison reform.
The case has already spurred legislative action in New York, including a prison oversight bill signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in correctional facilities, such as requiring comprehensive video surveillance and timely release of footage related to deaths behind bars.
