An upstate jury will soon decide the fate of a New York prison guard facing criminal charges in the beating death of an incarcerated man during an unauthorized prison strike last year.<\/p>\n
Correction officer Jonah Levi faces charges of murder, manslaughter, gang assault and falsifying an official document in the death of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County, about 250 miles north of New York City. The prosecution and defense delivered closing statements on Monday, and jurors started to deliberate in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Levi kicked Nantwi in the head, contributing to the injuries that caused his death. They also accused Levi and other officers of lying about what happened in reports they submitted after Nantwi\u2019s death. Levi\u2019s defense attorney argued at trial that Nantwi was acting violently, and any force used against Nantwi was justified.<\/p>\n
The trial, unfolding in a Utica courtroom over the last week, has offered an inside look at one of the most chaotic moments in a weekslong strike<\/a> that upended operations at prisons<\/a> across the state. It also marks a rare case of a correction officer facing prosecution for using force against a prisoner.<\/p>\n \u201cYou abandoned your oath,\u201d special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick said during closing statements on Monday. \u201cYou went in that room and you stomped that man to death.\u201d<\/p>\n Thousands of correction officers walked off the job last year to protest dangerous conditions in state prisons and a new law that restricts officers\u2019 use of solitary confinement.<\/p>\n The strike \u2014 illegal under state law \u2014 started just days before several officers were indicted<\/a> in the beating death of Robert Brooks at a prison across the street from Midstate. Nantwi was one of at least seven incarcerated people who died<\/a> during the strike, Gothamist previously reported.<\/p>\n Fitzpatrick told jurors Levi used excessive force against a young man who was acting like an \u201cimmature fool\u201d but did not deserve to die. He said that on March 1, 2025, Nantwi, 22, left his dorm when he wasn\u2019t supposed to and went to take a shower.<\/p>\n When a National Guardsman stationed at the prison<\/a> during the strike told Nantwi to go back to his room, the prosecutor said, Nantwi resisted. The guardsman quickly defused the situation, Fitzpatrick said, but a request for backup prompted members of the prison\u2019s emergency response team to descend on the unit and try to handcuff Nantwi.<\/p>\n Nantwi didn\u2019t want to be handcuffed, and he grabbed an officer, the prosecutor said, adding that he also tried to bite one of the correction officer\u2019s fingers. Over the next few minutes, Fitzpatrick said, officers hit and kicked Nantwi 69 times \u2014 at least 15 of them in the head. Nantwi, who lived in Harlem before he went to prison, died from massive head trauma and other injuries, according to the prosecutor.<\/p>\n Fitzpatrick said Levi and his fellow officers \u201cdisgraced the uniform, disgraced the badge\u201d and then tried to hide their wrongdoing.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you let \u2018em get away with it,\u201d he shouted at the jury. \u201cThere\u2019s no self-defense here.\u201d<\/p>\n Levi\u2019s defense attorney, Graeme Spicer, denied any cover-up and said the officer was a \u201cvoice of reason\u201d during the incident. He said the prison was under \u201cheightened tension\u201d that day, because of the strike. He also said Nantwi may have been high on synthetic marijuana and was holding a pencil like a knife as he interacted with members of the National Guard.<\/p>\n \u201cThey obviously felt threatened,\u201d Spicer said. \u201cThis was a situation that could have got out of control really quick if they did not call for that backup.\u201d<\/p>\n Spicer cast doubt on the prosecution\u2019s theory and on the credibility of its witnesses, including Nantwi\u2019s former prison roommate. He disputed the prosecution\u2019s claim that Levi kicked Nantwi and said blood got on the officer\u2019s boots because he was nearby and might have stepped in it.<\/p>\n \u201dThis is a tragic situation. Nobody disputes that,\u201d the defense attorney said. \u201cBut, ladies and gentlemen, we do not double down on tragedy in courts of law. We do not double down and convict somebody of these allegations, convict somebody of these crimes without any evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n He said there was no credible evidence that Levi\u2019s actions caused Nantwi\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Nantwi was serving a five-year sentence for criminal weapons possession and awaiting trial on homicide charges<\/a>, according to court records and his lawyer. He sued the NYPD<\/a> in 2022, alleging that officers in the Bronx shot him repeatedly while he lay on the ground in the fetal position.<\/p>\n