The last of the corrections officers involved in the death of Messiah Nantwi and subsequent cover-up have been sentenced, according to court records.
Nantwi, an inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility, was brutally beaten to death on March 1, 2025, by a Correction Emergency Response Team to the point of unresponsiveness and beaten twice more, with his hands cuffed behind his back.
After the death, a grand jury said corrections officers got together to plant evidence and submit false testimony, which included planting a weapon in Nantwi’s cell.
At the Oneida County Courthouse in Utica on May 13, Thomas Eck accepted his plea bargain from the special prosecutor’s office, pleading guilty to offering a false instrument for filing.
Eck was slated for a trial in early June, but after the trial of Jonah Levi, Special Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick said a plea bargain had been negotiated with the former corrections officer.
Eck had charged with first-degree manslaughter, first-degree gang assault, second-degree gang assault, two counts of fifth-degree conspiracy, first-degree offering a false instrument for file and tampering with physical evidence.
Eck was sentenced to nine months in Oneida County Jail.
According to the indictment, Eck had lied on his paperwork to omit the name of other corrections officers who were present.
On the heels of the sentencing is a report released by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Service on the effects of measures taken to improve safety and accountability in New York State prison facilities, including Marcy and Mid-State.
Since the deaths of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi, and the illegal strike in February and March 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul has invested over $500 million and passed prison reform legislation to improve the safety and well-being of all staff and the incarcerated population, and to ensure transparency, accountability, and oversight within New York’s correctional facilities.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Last CO involved in death of Messiah Nantwi sentenced
Reporting by Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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By Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
