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UTICA, N.Y. — <\/span>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. <\/p>\n The jury in Utica, New York, also found Jonah Levi guilty of gang assault and conspiracy in the death Messiah Nantwi<\/a> on March 1, 2025, and the subsequent coverup. The jurors acquitted him of second-degree murder.<\/p>\n Levi was the first guard to go on trial in Nantwi’s death. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s death also came several months after Robert Brooks was fatally beaten<\/a> at a separate prison just across the road from Mid-State.<\/p>\n Levi was part of an emergency response team called to Nantwi\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n Corrections officers who responded to the call began beating Nantwi in his room after he refused to be handcuffed and grabbed a guard\u2019s vest. Prosecutors said the beatings intensified after Nantwi bit a guard\u2019s hand. <\/p>\n Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told jurors that Levi stomped on Nantwi\u2019s head multiple times and participated in a cover-up by guards.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence of guilt here, ladies and gentlemen, is simple and it\u2019s overwhelming. Stomp on someone\u2019s head, you\u2019re not trying to get their attention,\u201d Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments Monday. \u201cYou\u2019ve divorced yourself from the human race.\u201d<\/p>\n Levi\u2019s attorney, Lewis G. Spicer, told jurors that his client did not use any force that resulted in Nantwi\u2019s death.<\/p>\n \u201cJonah Levi did not kick Messiah Nantwi in the head,\u201d Spicer said in his closing statement.<\/p>\n More than half a dozen others have pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to the beating and alleged cover-up.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> in 2021. He was shot multiple times, while the officers were uninjured.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n