One of the correction officers charged in connection with the beating death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility in December pleaded guilty Monday morning to manslaughter.

Christopher Walrath, one of the six officers facing the highest charge of second-degree murder in the case, pleaded guilty in Oneida County Court to a count of first-degree manslaughter before Judge Robert Bauer. He and other officers charged had been granted extensions to decide on plea offers last week.

The charges stem from an incident at Marcy Correctional caught on body-worn cameras that authorities said led to Brooks' death. The footage released by the New York attorney general’s office shows correctional officers hitting Brooks while he was restrained at the prison on Dec. 9. He died the next day at a hospital in Utica.

The Onondaga County District Attorney, William Fitzpatrick, said the plea deal reflects Walrath’s penitence in this case.

“This individual has been a corrections officer for over a decade. He is about to become an incarcerated individual for 15 years,” Fitzpatrick said, “And if he doesn’t have remorse, then there’s something seriously disconnected in his thinking.”

Walrath will be sentenced Aug. 4. He faces up to 15 years in state prison.

This plea deal waives Walrath’s right to a trial — where he likely could have faced more time. Fitzpatrick said the Brooks family still approves of the deal.

“The opinion that most counts to me is that of Robert Brooks Jr.,” the district attorney said, “And he thinks that we’re doing it right, and that’s what I care about."

Robert Brooks Jr., Brooks’ son, released a statement, saying, in part, "I pray that Mr. Walrath has the opportunity in prison to rehabilitate himself, and come out a better man. This is what every single person in prison deserves, but it was viciously taken away from my father.

"This is one important but modest step on the long road to justice for my father. Everyone who participated in my father's killing, and everyone who allowed it to happen, needs to be held fully responsible."

Kevin McCall, a civil rights activist, believes that justice will be celebrated, saying, “On August 4^th, it will be a national holiday in New York state because a correctional officer that put a crime and put an individual by the name of Robert Brooks in a chokehold, will go to jail for what he did.”

The remaining nine officers charged in connection with this case have also been offered plea deals. They are due back in court with decisions on those deals as soon as next week.