The state attorney general's office has withdrawn from the criminal investigation into the alleged beating death of an inmate at Marcy Correctional Facility, citing a possible conflict of interest.
The attorney general's office made its decision due to its role in representing four of the officers named in civil lawsuits stemming from the Dec. 9 beating of Robert L. Brooks, who died just hours afterward, according to Times Union.
"Four of the correction officers under investigation in the Robert Brooks matter are currently defendants in other matters and are being represented by lawyers in the office of the attorney general," Attorney General Letitia James revealed in a statement.
"While we are confident in the firewalls set up between the Division of State Counsel and the Office of Special Investigation, even the possibility or appearance of a conflict could tie up a potential prosecution in lengthy legal challenges or get a potential prosecution outright dismissed."
The office has asked William Fitzpatrick, District Attorney for Onondaga County, to take over the case as a special prosecutor.
The New York Attorney General has released disturbing footage of correction officers brutally assaulting prisoner Robert Brooks, who died following the attack.
Brooks, 43, died on Dec. 10 after the ruthless group-beating at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, New York, which was captured in body camera footage released Friday. The videos, which lack audio due to the officers' failure to activate their cameras, depict Brooks, who was handcuffed, being repeatedly punched in the face and groin while sitting on a medical table.
At one point, an officer struck Brooks in the chest with a shoe, while another lifted him by the neck and dropped him back onto the table. Officers then removed his clothing, leaving Brooks unconscious and covered in his own blood.
He was pronounced dead at a hospital the next morning.
