UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A corrections officer pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday in the fatal beating of a handcuffed inmate at an upstate New York prison — an attack that was caught on video by guards' body cameras, sparked public outrage and led to charges against more than a dozen people.
Christopher Walrath, 36, was one of six guards charged with second-degree murder in the Dec. 9 beating of Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter during a hearing at state court in Utica.
The plea deal, which was the first agreed to by one of the six who were charged with murder, calls for Walrath to get a 15-year prison term. He will remain free on bail pending his Aug. 4 sentencing.
Under questioning from Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, Walrath admitted that he and other guards assaulted Brooks. He also acknowledged that he put Brooks in a chokehold, that he struck the inmate's body and groin and that he lied to investigators about what happened.
Walrath, who resigned from his guard job, appeared somber with his hands clasped in front of him as he answered questions with either “yes” or “correct.” He and his attorney declined to comment while leaving court.
Brooks began serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault in 2017 and was transferred to Marcy from a nearby lockup on the night he was beaten to death. Fitzpatrick said Brooks was beaten three times that night, the last of which was the attack caught on bodycam footage.
“The reality is, he did nothing. It was welcome to Marcy,” the prosecutor said of the reason for the beatings.
He told reporters after the hearing that Walrath left his post to join in the attacks.
“Sadly, just emblematic of a system and a problem that is persistent at that institution, and perhaps others as well,” Fitzpatrick said.
He said the plea deal was based on the evidence of Walrath’s involvement in the beatings and the prosecutor's judgment that the blows Walrath inflicted on Brooks “were non-lethal.”
Fitzpatrick said it was possible the guilty plea would spur other guards to reach agreements, but that his office had not had recent discussions with the other defense attorneys.
Brooks' son Robert Brooks Jr., who was at the hearing, said in a statement afterward that the guilty plea was "one important but modest step on the long road to justice for my father.”
“Now, Mr. Walrath’s life is in the hands of prison officials. This must be a terrifying prospect for him and his family, knowing what staff is capable of, and how little the system values the lives of incarcerated people,” the victim's son said. “I pray that Mr. Walrath has the opportunity in prison to rehabilitate himself, and come out a better man.”
In addition to the six guards who were charged with murder, three workers at the prison about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of New York City were charged with manslaughter and another was charged with evidence tampering. Three other prison workers have reached agreements but have yet to enter those pleas, according to prosecutors.
In the bodycam videos, officers could be seen beating Brooks, who was on a medical examination table with his hands cuffed behind his back. They struck him in the chest with a shoe, lifted him by his neck and dropped him. Brooks died the next day.
All the officers who were charged either resigned or were suspended without pay pending termination proceedings, state officials said.
The beating drew widespread condemnation and calls for reforms. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said she was “outraged and horrified” by the videos, appointed a new superintendent for the prison. She also ordered state officials to initiate proceedings to fire 13 correctional officers and a nurse implicated in the attack.
Fitzpatrick also is prosecuting guards in the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at another Marcy lockup, the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Ten guards were indicted in that case last month, including two who are charged with murder.
Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Correctional officer Christopher Walrath, center, appears in Oneida County Court, Monday, May 5, 2025, in Utica, N.Y., to enter a guilty plea for manslaughter in the December 2024 death of inmate Robert Brooks. (AP Photo/Michael Hill)
FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., on Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's decision to order federal immigration agents to U.S. airports to help with security during a budget impasse is drawing concerns that their presence may escalate tensions among air travelers frustrated over hourslong waits and screeners angry about missed paychecks.
Trump made clear on Sunday that he was going ahead with the plan to have immigration enforcement officers assist the Transportation Security Administration by guarding exit lanes or checking passenger IDs unless Democrats agreed to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats are demanding major changes to federal immigration operations and showing no sign of backing down.
Hundreds of thousands of homeland security workers, including from the TSA, U.S. Secret Service and Coast Guard, have worked without pay since Congress failed to renew DHS funding last month.
“Bad idea,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, about the new airport security plan, which Trump said would start Monday.
"What we need to do is, we need to get the DHS issues resolved, we need to get the TSA agents paid,” she told reporters at the Capitol, where the Senate held a rare weekend session. “Do you really want to have even additional tensions on top of what we are already facing?”
Senators advanced the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to be Trump’s next homeland security secretary by a largely party-line vote, 54-37, with two Democrats joining most Republicans. A vote on the confirmation could come as early as Monday. Mullin has tried to make the case that he would be a steady hand after the tumultuous tenure of Kristi Noem, Trump’s first DHS secretary.
White House border czar Tom Homan, named by Trump to lead the new airport security effort, has also been meeting with a bipartisan group of senators over the partial shutdown. While he characterized those sessions as “good conversations,” he said they were “not at a point yet where we’re in total agreement.”
Meanwhile, Homan said in Sunday news show interviews that the increased role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at airports — its specific duties and numbers — was subject to discussions with the leadership of TSA and ICE. DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis said “hundreds” of ICE officers would be deployed, but she would not disclose the airports where they would go, citing security reasons.
"It’s a work in progress,” Homan said. The priority, he said, was “the large airports where there’s a long wait, like three hours.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued a statement Sunday night saying officers from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations would be deployed to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport starting Monday morning.
At the airport on Sunday, some travelers waited in line for nearly six hours at the main security checkpoint, where only two TSA agents were on hand midafternoon to check IDs. Many missed their flights and scrambled to book later flights or add themselves to standby lists that were already dozens of names long.
Dickens said all federal personnel would report to TSA and be assigned tasks such as line management and crowd control. “Federal officials have indicated that this deployment is not intended to conduct immigration enforcement activities,” his statement said.
Homan said immigration officers, as an example, could cover exits currently monitored by TSA agents, freeing them to work screening lines. Another option, he said, was having ICE agents check identification before people enter screenings areas.
"We’re going to be a force multiplier,” Homan said, while also acknowledging there were limits.
“I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because we’re not trained in that,” he said. He pledged to have “a plan by the end of today, where we’re sending -- what airports we’re starting with and where we’re sending them.”
But Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 50,000 TSA employees, condemned Trump’s plan, saying in a statement that ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security.
“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” Kelley said Sunday. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
Democrats have said they are willing to fund TSA and most other parts of DHS as they press for changes to immigration operations after the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis during an immigration enforcement operation. ICE officers are largely being paid during the partial shutdown, thanks to an influx of cash from Trump’s big tax breaks bill last year.
“There are lots of ideas swirling right now,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “The good news in all that is people realizing this has to get fixed, it has to get solved.”
As budget talks stayed behind closed doors Sunday, senators said they had few details of which airports or how many immigration officers were being dispatched. Some welcomed the effort.
“I don’t think it can hurt,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. “They can help relieve some of the pressure."
Trump said in a social media post that on Monday, “ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job" despite the partial government shutdown. He further criticized Democrats.
Travelers at some airports worried about reaching their gates Sunday.
At Atlanta’s airport, lines wrapped from one end of the airport to the other.
The scene appeared more chaotic at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Large crowds of anxious travelers piled toward security checkpoints, and TSA staff shouted through megaphones to tell people not to push one another.
For Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, one concern is the uncertainty that passengers are facing over possible wait times at any airport on any given day.
“Do I have to come an hour and a half early? Do I have to come four hours early? They don’t know until the day of or the afternoon of their flight,” he said. “So if we can alleviate that, again, the president wants to take away that leverage point for Democrats and make travel easier for the American people.”
Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in West Palm Beach, Fla., Anthony Izaguirre in Lindenhurst, N.Y., Yuki Iwamura in New York, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Margery Beck in Omaha, Neb. and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed to this report.
People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., the White House pick for homeland security secretary, testifies during Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing, Wednesday, March 18, 2026 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
