Former guard accused of stomping inmate’s head goes on trial in fatal beating at New York prison

UTICA, New York — A former upstate New York prison guard on trial in the death of an inmate repeatedly stomped on the man during a brutal beating by a group of guards, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

Jonah Levi, who was charged with murder, was the first guard to stand trial after ten of them were indicted last April in the death of Messiah Nantwi at a Mid-State correctional facility on March 1, 2025 — a time when the state’s prison system was reeling from a wildcat strike.

Prosecutors said Nantwi, 22, suffered 69 separate body blows from guards who used their fists, boots and batons in a series of beatings. A witness said Tuesday that Nantwi was bloodied and making distressed noises after being beaten in his bedroom.

Onondaga County Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors in his opening statement that investigators collected DNA evidence from boots taken from Levi and a second guard facing a major charge of second-degree murder.

“With complete depravity and recklessness, you will hear eyewitness testimony that Jonah Levi repeatedly stomped Messiah Nantwi on the head. And pathetically, his brother officers did nothing,” said Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor.

Nantwi died from massive head trauma and other bodily injuries from the beating, according to prosecutors.

Levi’s attorney, Lewis G. Spicer, told the jury that the use of force that morning was justified given Nantwi’s aggressive behavior. He said Levi did not use any force that resulted in Nantwi’s death.

“Mr. Levi was doing everything he was supposed to do,” Spicer said.

Nantwi’s death came several months after Robert Brooks was fatally beaten at a segregated prison just across the street from Mid-State. Prisoner advocates say the two beatings illustrate a culture of violence by guards in New York’s prisons.

His death also came as New York’s prisons struggled to operate during a three-week wildcat strike by guards unhappy with working conditions, which forced the governor to send in National Guard troops.

Levi was part of an emergency response team called to Nantwi’s room to assist National Guard members who were seeking backup after Nantwi failed to cooperate with a bedside prisoner count.

Nicholas Mouzon, a National Guard member working that day, testified that Nantwi would not leave a shower area to be counted, repeatedly saying, “What if I don’t want to?” But Nantwi immediately calmed down once reinforcements were requested, he said.

Several corrections officers who responded to the call began beating Nantwi in his room after he refused to be handcuffed and grabbed a guard vest, authorities said. The beating intensified after Nantwi bit a guard’s hand, prosecutors say.

“He died because he protested in handcuffs and because he tried to bite someone’s finger off,” Fitzpatrick said.

Mouzon said he had a limited view of outside the room, but saw a guard standing on Nantwi’s calves and hitting his feet with a baton. He then saw Nantwi being executed.

“His eyes were closed. He was making — in the best way I can describe it — aggravated dog noises. He was growling,” Mouzon said.

Prosecutors say guards falsely claimed a makeshift knife had been recovered as part of a cover-up effort.

Lewis told the jury that prosecutors offered an “extremely sanitized” version of events. Nantwi, who used synthetic marijuana, was the first attacker, Spicer said.

“You’re going to hear him fight back,” Spicer said.

While Brooks’ beating months earlier was captured on body cameras, video footage will likely play less of a role in this trial. Prosecutors say some guards involved in Nantwi’s death were not wearing required body cameras, or were turning them off or looking away.

In addition to murder, Levi was also charged with first-degree manslaughter, first-degree gang assault, second-degree gang assault, fifth-degree conspiracy and first-degree offering a false instrument for record.

Levi is the first guard to face a jury in this case. More than a half-dozen other people have pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to the incident and the alleged cover-up.

Nantwi entered the state prison system in May 2024 and 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. He was shot multiple times, while the officers were uninjured.

Manhattan prosecutors say Nantwi fatally shot Jaylen Duncan, 19, on a Harlem street in April 2023. The next evening, they say, he fatally shot Brandon Brunson, 36, in a Harlem smoke shop after an argument.