Prison Guard Convicted in Fatal Beating Caught on Video, With 2 Acquitted

A former guard at an upstate New York prison was convicted of murder on Monday in the beating death of an inmate, while two others on trial with him were acquitted.

The case was part of a remarkable mass prosecution that put New York’s culture of incarceration on trial in nearby Utica, N.Y. Of 10 guards initially charged in the beating, six pleaded guilty. Another is scheduled to be tried in January.

The 10 men were members of a group whose attack on Robert L. Brooks, 43, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in December was captured by their body-worn cameras.

All three defendants — David Kingsley, Mathew Galliher and Nicholas Kieffer — were charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter and faced a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

But the jury convicted only Mr. Kingsley. This shocked Mr. Brooks’s supporters, who had packed the courtroom. The other two defendants were acquitted of both murder and manslaughter.

As the verdicts were announced, there were gasps and cries. Family members of Mr. Kieffer broke down in tears.

That footage of guards punching, choking and stamping on Mr. Brooks while he was handcuffed and shackled in an infirmary was released to the public shortly after the attack.

It ignited an outcry and became a symbol of a troubled prison system, bringing renewed attention to longstanding complaints of unpunished beatings of inmates by correction officers.