ALBANY (AP) – United States’s attorney general appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the death of a man who was beaten by guards at a state prison, saying her office cannot oversee the inquiry because it was already representing some of the corrections officials involved in civil lawsuits.
Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, chose the Republican district attorney in Onondaga County, William Fitzpatrick, to investigate the December 10 death of Robert Brooks.
The attorney general typically investigates the deaths of people in the custody of law enforcement, but James said four of the officers under investigation were already being represented by lawyers in her office.
Some of the guards have previously been defendants in brutality lawsuits filed by other prisoners.
“Even the possibility or mere appearance of a conflict could tie up a potential prosecution in lengthy legal challenges or get a potential prosecution outright dismissed,” James said.
“And I will not allow justice to be delayed or denied because of a conflict.”
Recently released body camera video shows officers punching Brooks while he was handcuffed on a medical examination table at Marcy Correctional Facility on December 9.
One officer uses a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, and another yanks him up by his neck and drops him back on the table.
Brooks was pronounced dead the following morning.
