UTICA, N.Y. — Former Mid-State Correctional Facility corrections officer Jonah Levi was found guilty of gang assault and conspiracy in the death of 22-year-old inmate Messiah Nantwi. Levi was acquitted of second-degree murder.

Levi was the first corrections officer to go on trial in relation to Nantwi's death. Corrections officers began beating Nantwi in his housing unit after he refused to be handcuffed and grabbed a guard's vest. According to prosecutors, the beatings intensified after Nantwi bit a guard's hand.

Nantwi was struck dozens of times by guards using fists, boots and batons. According to prosecutors, he died due to massive head trauma and other injuries to his body from the beatings. Levi was part of an emergency response team called to Nantwi's housing unit to assist National Guard members.

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. You've divorced yourself from the human race," Fitzpatrick said.

Attorney Lewis G. Spicer countered during the trial, "Jonah Levi did not kick Messiah Nantwi in the head."

More than six other corrections officers have pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to the beating and alleged cover-up. Former corrections officer Caleb Blair is scheduled to go on trial May 4 on a murder charge. A fellow defendant is scheduled to stand trial May 4 on a charge of first-degree manslaughter, and another corrections officer charged with manslaughter is scheduled to go on trial June 1.

A witness testified that Nantwi calmed down once backup was called. Nantwi's death occurred several months after Robert Brooks was fatally beaten at a separate prison across the road from Mid-State.

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