New York's attorney general appointed a veteran district attorney Thursday as a special prosecutor in the death of a man who was beaten by state corrections officers, saying she needed to recuse her office to avoid potential conflicts.

The state prison inmate died Dec. 10 after being beaten by correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County.

Three of the officers involved in a fatal beating of Robert Brooks, a handcuffed inmate at the Marcy Correctional Facility upstate New York, were previously accused of abuse and assault, according to court documents obtained by CNN.