Overview

• The jury heard opening statements describing “sheer, unimaginable brutality,” with the special prosecutor saying the defendants punched, kneed, pepper‑sprayed, choked, and restrained Robert Brooks.
• Defense lawyers told jurors the state cannot prove malice or direct causation, with one attorney arguing Mathew Galliher only applied leg shackles and did not inflict harm or block care.
• Silent body‑camera footage presented by prosecutors shows officers striking Brooks with a shoe, lifting him by the neck, and dropping him in a prison infirmary.
• The three former guards — Mathew Galliher, Nicholas Kieffer, and David Kingsley — are charged with murder and first‑degree manslaughter in the Dec. 9 incident; Brooks died the next day at a hospital.
• Ten officers were indicted in February, six have pleaded guilty, three others agreed to plead and are cooperating, and a separate officer faces a January trial on second‑degree manslaughter.