A former New York prison guard is found guilty of manslaughter in an inmate’s fatal beating

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A former corrections officer was found guilty of manslaughter Wednesday in the fatal beating of an inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

The jury in Utica, New York, also found Jonah Levi guilty of gang assault and conspiracy in the death Messiah Nantwi on March 1, 2025, and the subsequent coverup. The jurors acquitted him of second-degree murder.

Levi was the first guard to go on trial in Nantwi’s death.

Nantwi, 22, was struck dozens of times by guards who used their fists, boots and batons. He died due to massive head trauma and other injuries to his body from the beatings, according to prosecutors.

The beating occurred during a wildcat strike by many officers that forced the governor to send in National Guard members to help keep order. Nantwi’s death also came several months after Robert Brooks was fatally beaten at a separate prison just across the road from Mid-State.

Levi was part of an emergency response team called to Nantwi’s housing unit to help National Guard members who sought backup after Nantwi was uncooperative during a prisoner headcount. A witness testified that Nantwi calmed down once backup was called.

Corrections officers who responded to the call began beating Nantwi in his room after he refused to be handcuffed and grabbed a guard’s vest. Prosecutors said the beatings intensified after Nantwi bit a guard’s hand.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told jurors that Levi stomped on Nantwi’s head multiple times and participated in a cover-up by guards.

“The evidence of guilt here, ladies and gentlemen, is simple and it’s overwhelming. Stomp on someone’s head, you’re not trying to get their attention,” Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments Monday. “You’ve divorced yourself from the human race.”

Levi’s attorney, Lewis G. Spicer, told jurors that his client did not use any force that resulted in Nantwi’s death.

“Jonah Levi did not kick Messiah Nantwi in the head,” Spicer said in his closing statement.

More than half a dozen others have pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to the beating and alleged cover-up.

Another former guard charged with murder, Caleb Blair, is scheduled to go on trial May 4, along with a fellow defendant will stand trial for first-degree manslaughter. Another guard charged with manslaughter is scheduled for trial June 1.

Nantwi entered the state prison system in May 2024 and had been serving a five-year sentence for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon related to an exchange of gunfire with police officers in 2021. He was shot multiple times, while the officers were uninjured.