UTICA, N.Y. (CNY Central) — David Walters, a former corrections officer who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the beating death of Marcy Correctional Facility inmate Robert Brooks, has been released from prison.
According to WKTV in Utica, a state Supreme Court judge in Jefferson County granted Walters a stay of his sentence and bail pending appeal.
His lawyer, Nick Passalacqua, now has 120 days to file an appellate brief, after which the prosecution will respond, and the court will decide whether to grant the appeal.
Walters was released from Elmira Correctional Facility after posting a $100,000 bond, according to WKTV.
Back in November, Walters attempted to withdraw his guilty plea in Oneida County Court. The judge denied it. This was after Walters and his legal team heard from the judge that the judge would be telling the jury that he employment directive rose to the level of law. According to Passalacqua, this is the opposite of what the judge did.
“That’s when we filed our motion to vacate our plea,” said Passalacqua.
In September, Walters admitted to standing by and watching as several other corrections officers beat Brooks and to verbally stopping a nurse from intervening.
Walters and his attorney argue that he was prosecuted based on an employment directive rather than a law.
CNY Central took the details to a neutral attorney for some further insight. Aaron Pam, senior associate at Tully Rinckey, said one of the factors of this appeal is the strength of the argument. To that, we asked about the strength of the argument if Walters pleaded guilty.
“The sentence is sort of a separate legal determination from whether a person is guilty or not guilty,” explained Pam.
Brooks was serving a 12-year sentence for assault after he was convicted of stabbing his girlfriend in Greece, near Rochester. His release was scheduled for 2026.
The beating occurred the same day Brooks, of Rochester, was transferred from the Mohawk Correctional Facility to the Marcy facility.
