The trial of Jonah Levi continued March 24, with opening statements and a declaration by the prosecution that the corrections officers did not wear their body-worn cameras, in direct opposition of Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) policy.
Messiah Nantwi, while incarcerated 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 alleged the corrections officers got together to plant evidence and submit false testimony.
Levi, a member of the CERT team that responded, is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, first-degree gang assault, second-degree gang assault, fifth-degree conspiracy and first-degree offering a false instrument for file.
Standing before Judge Michael Nolan, Special Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick said in his opening statement that it was the purpose to come out better than when they enter but instead, Messiah Nantwi did not come out at all.
“He came out in a pine box,” Fitzpatrick said, raising his voice.
Fitzpatrick then began laying out the events that lead to Messiah Nantwi’s death, starting with the wild cat strike of corrections officers across the state that prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to deploy the National Guard to fill the gap left by strikers.
Fitzpatrick said the National Guard were not trained to be corrections officers and didn’t know the nuances of the role. This, in turn, would lead to a series of events that would leave Nantwi dead.
“The National Guard and the corrections officers scheduled what is called a count. And it’s exactly what it sounds like. They count the incarcerated individuals,” Fitzpatrick explained. “Just before the count, another corrections officer was doing their rounds and you will see his body worn camera. At 10:53 a.m., he leaves the building where Messiah Nantwi is quiet and copesthetic.”
However, shortly after this, one of the National Guardsman notices that Nantwi is not getting ready for the count.
“In a matter of minutes, the National Guardsman is in a verbal argument with Messiah Nantwi,” Fitzpatrick said. “And what happened in that next half an hour was catastrophic and ridiculous that it even occurred.”
Fitzpatrick said Levi was sitting with several other Corrections Emergency Response Team members when they hear “back-up” said multiple times. The back-up was called by the National Guardsman, Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said Nantwi was back in his cell with his hands up when the CERT team entered.
“No one took the time to ascertain what was going on,” Fitzpatrick said. “You don’t walk into a scene and escalate. The big crime if they asked was that Nantwi acted up to an untrained National Guardsman and then went back into his cell.”
Fitzpatrick continued, saying there was no cooperation and no coordination, just several CERT officers “…beating the crap out of a 180-pound man.”
No body cams worn
There’s no way of knowing exactly what happened within Nantwi’s cell, as all of the CERT officers were not wearing their body-worn cameras, as directed by Gov. Hochul.
Fitzpatrick accused Levi and the other members of the CERT team of not only failing to wear their body-worn cameras, but did so willingly after body-worn camera footage of the beating death of Robert Brooks was released.
The defense objected to this statement, but Fitzpatrick said that he would prove this as part of his case. As such, Judge Nolan overruled the objection.
After the beating of Nantwi in his cell and in the stairwell, Fitzpatrick said there was a “…depraved indifference” to another person’s life and that the corrections officers involved took steps to fabricate evidence, from planting a shiv in Nantwi’s cell, to cleaning up the different crime scenes before investigators could arrive.
However, the special prosecutor said the boots that Levi wore during the beating that had Nantwi’s DNA on them.
Additionally, the corrections officers can be seen on video at Raspberries in New Hartford, where Fitzpatrick said they “…would get their stories straight” and “…make sure that no one takes any deals and sinks this ship.”
‘A couple of things can be true’
On the defense, Defense Attorney Graeme Spicer said that Special Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick made “…multiple promises” to what he would prove and said the special prosecutor will be proven wrong.
“A couple things can be true,” Spicer said. “Any use of force, multiple uses of force used against Messiah Nantwi was justified given the circumstances. The second thing that can also be true is that Jonah Levi did not employ any force that resulted in Messiah Nantwi’s death.”
Spicer said Nantwi was high on synthetic marijuana and was waving a pencil around like a weapon, which prompted the CERT response.
Spicer went on to argue the use of force would be reasonable, given the circumstances.
Additionally, Spicer told the jury that they should consider the motivations of those who have agreed to testify against Levi.
“There’s a few things I want you to keep in mind when listening to these testimonies,” Spicer said. “Think about their motivations for giving these testimonies and I don’t think you’ll be able to believe them.”
First witness called
Christopher Martuscello, the assistant commissioner and assistant chief of investigations at the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision was questioned by the prosecution and read from the DOCCS policy, reading the policy on use of force in general.
Use of force is limited only when needed and the policy says that high impact force, such as kicks to the heads and neck restraints, are against the policy.
Additionally, Martuscello outlined the policy on duty to intervene, which states that if one staff member witnesses another staff member use force they believe is excessive, they have a right and duty to intervene.
Finally, when questioned, Martuscello confirmed that after the beating death of Robert Brooks, DOCCS employees are required to wear body-worn cameras when interacting with any incarcerated individuals and that by not wearing them, the CERT team were in violation of DOCCS policy.
The trial resumes the morning of March 25.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Opening statements, witnesses called in Jonah Levi murder trial
Reporting by Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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