State Attorney General Letitia James has removed her office from all matters connected to the death of Robert Brooks after he was beaten by correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility.

State Attorney General Letitia James announced last Thursday that her office had asked a state Supreme Court justice in Onondaga County to permit it to recuse itself from the criminal investigation into the death of Robert Brooks, who was declared dead early on Dec. 10 a few hours after the prison inmate was kicked, punched and choked by a gang of correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility outside Utica.

The stated reason for recusal: The attorney general’s office had been representing several of the correction officers involved in Mr. Brooks' beating in four federal lawsuits filed by men who allege they had been subjected to similar injustices while incarcerated. Ms. James said that although the attorney general’s civil and criminal divisions were firewalled from each other, the situation created “the possibility or mere appearance........

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