10 guards charged over the fatal beating of a New York inmate, including 2 with murder
Utica, New York (AP) – Ten New York prison guards were charged Wednesday in connection with the fatal beating of a 22-year-old inmate last month — including two charged with murder. It's the second time a group of correctional officers in the state was indicted for a death behind bars this year.
The indictment says several guards severely beat Messiah Nantwi, a prisoner at the Mid-State Correctional Facility, sending him to a hospital where he died on March 1. As a result of the beatings, Nantwi 'died due to massive head trauma and numerous other injuries to his body,' the indictment said.
Nantwi's death came several months after Robert Brooks was fatally beaten at the Marcy Correctional Facility, just across the street from the Mid-State prison. Six guards have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in Brooks' death and other prison employees have also been charged.
The Utica-area facility was one of many state prisons that was struggling to function during a three-week wildcat strike by guards. Correctional officers who were upset over working conditions began illegally walking off the job Feb. 17 at many state prisons, forcing the governor to send National Guard troops in to maintain operations. Incarcerated people and their advocates complained that services and conditions deteriorated during the walkout.
According to Wednesday's indictment, the two guards charged with second-degree murder, Jonah Levi and Caleb Blair, were called to Nantwi's room to help National Guard members with an 'unknown issue.' Levi and Blair entered the room and 'began beating Messiah Nantwi, including multiple strikes to his body and head with their boots,' the indictment says.
When guards entered Nantwi's room, Nantwi 'had his hands raised and displayed no weapon,' the indictment says. Nantwi protested being handcuffed and restrained for no reason apparent to him and grabbed Bartlett's vest, and then was immediately assaulted by the defendants,' the document says. The attack intensified when Nantwi bit Blair and guard Thomas Eck on their hands.
Nantwi became unresponsive and guards transported him out of the room and headed for the infirmary. Nantwi was assaulted a second time in a stairwell and was 'dumped in a holding cell at the infirmary and further assaulted' by Blair, the indictment says.
Gov. Kathy Hochul called it a 'horrific crime' in announcing the indictments Tuesday.
'The tragic death of Mr. Nantwi at the hands of correction officers who are responsible for protecting the incarcerated population is deeply, deeply disturbing,' Hochul said in a brief video message.
The court document said the guards had no legitimate reason to assault Nantwi. It also said the kicking and stomping, along with leaving him unattended in the infirmary holding cell for several minutes while displaying no urgency for medical staff to check on him, 'demonstrated depraved indifference' to Nantwi's life and 'resulted in his death.'
Levi, Blair and three other guards were also charged with first-degree manslaughter.
The attorney general's office has recused itself in Nantwi's case, citing its representation of several correctional officers in civil lawsuits. A special prosecutor was appointed, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who is also the prosecutor in Brooks' death.
Nantwi entered the state prison system last May 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 in 2021. At the time he was shot multiple times, while the officers were uninjured.
Prosecutors in Manhattan say Nantwi shot and killed Jaylen Duncan, 19, on a Harlem street in April 2023. The following evening, they say, he shot and killed Brandon Brunson, 36, at a Harlem smoke shop after an argument.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Combs' ex accuses him of abuse but says she loves him
An ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs who accuses him of kicking, punching and dragging her has testified at his sex trafficking trial that she still loves the hip-hop mogul. "He was my baby," said the woman, who is testifying under the pseudonym Jane to protect her privacy. Asked under cross-examination by defence lawyer Teny Geragos if she still loves Combs, Jane said, "I do". The woman said she enjoyed taking care of Combs, bathing him and falling asleep with him while watching television after "hotel nights", their phrase for drug-fuelled encounters in which she would have sex with male entertainers while Combs watched. The questioning was part of Combs' strategy to portray Jane as a willing participant in the sexual encounters with him, not a victim of sex trafficking as prosecutors allege. She said she agreed to these "hotel nights" while "under a lot of emotional pressure" - and already hooked on love and a desire to stay in a relationship with Combs. Jane testified that she partook in the encounters, sometimes grudgingly, because they pleased Combs and she enjoyed spending time alone with him afterward. Combs, 55, and the founder of Bad Boy Records, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Combs used force and threats of cutting off financial support to coerce women into taking part in the encounters, sometimes known as "Freak Offs". Over three days under questioning by prosecutors in Manhattan federal court, Jane said that she agreed to have sex with a male escort in front of Combs early in their relationship but that he later dismissed her requests to stop and threatened to stop paying her rent. On Monday, Jane said Combs kicked, punched and dragged her during an altercation at her Los Angeles home last June. Later that night, he told her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer even though she said she did not want to, Jane said. Under questioning on Tuesday, Jane said she researched the terms "cuck" and "cuckold" during her relationship with Combs to try to understand his desires. The words refer to men who enjoy watching female partners with other men, Jane said. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights and what was driving him," Jane said. Combs' defence lawyers are expected to cross-examine Jane until Thursday. Testimony is in its fifth week. Combs could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs turned artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, elevating hip-hop in American culture and becoming a billionaire in the process. with AP
New York Post
19 minutes ago
- New York Post
2 death row inmates executed in Florida, Alabama minutes apart for grisly murders
Two death row inmates were executed by a pair of southern states for their twisted murders minutes apart Tuesday evening. Anthony Wainwright was put to death in Florida and Gregory Hunt was killed in Alabama four minutes later Tuesday evening. It's the fourth time this year there have been double-executions, according to USA Today. 3 Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to be killed in Florida. AP Wainwright, 54, was killed by lethal injection 30 years after he raped and fatally shot mother of two Carmen Gayheart, 23, in Lake City. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. shortly after the execution got underway. His final words weren't inaudible from the witness room. Wainwright and his co-defendant Richard Hamilton, broke out of North Carolina prison and while they were on the run carjacked Gayheart's blue Ford Bronco in April 1994. The two men forced her into the car at gunpoint and then raped her in the backseat as they drove off. Wainwright and Hamilton, who died on death row, then dragged her from the car and shot her twice in the back of the head. 3 Gregory Hunt will be executed in Alabama. Alabama Department of Corrections/AFP via Getty Images They were captured the next day and convicted in 1995. Gayheart's sister, Maria David, has kept track of every court hearing and appeal since her loved one's murder. 'I'm looking forward to getting the last pieces of paperwork that say he's been executed to put into the book and never having to think about Anthony Wainwright ever again,' she said recently. Wainwright's legal team tried to convince the US Supreme Court to stop his execution — to no avail — by arguing that his exposure to Agent Orange before he was born led to cognitive and behavioral problems throughout his life, according to CBS Miami. Wainwright's father, who fought in the Vietnam War, was exposed to the herbicide and Wainwright was conceived six months after he came back from the war, his lawyers argued. 'Although Mr. Wainwright did not serve in the Vietnam War, and was not even a viable life at that point, he was catastrophically and immutably cognitively damaged from it,' part of the petition states, according to the station. 'Unlike veterans, who make knowing sacrifices for our country in the face of grave risks, Mr. Wainwright had no such choice.' The argument was one of several appeals the Supreme Court shot down Monday. The highest court also rejected a final plea Tuesday morning. 3 One of the two men will be killed by lethal injection. AP Meanwhile Hunt's execution was by nitrogen gas about 35 years after he was convicted of bludgeoning a woman he had been dating, Karen Lane, to death inside an Cordova apartment she shared with Hunt's female cousin in 1988. He was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m. Lane, 32, was so badly beaten that she had 60 injuries, including 20 to the head. She was also sexually abused by Hunt leading up to the fatal attack. He was convicted in June 1990 of capital murder, as well as sexual abuse and burglary. Jurors then voted 11-1 that he be sentenced to death, which the judge signed off on. Hunt claimed in an interview last month he was a changed man, and that the killing was fueled by booze, drugs and overwhelming jealousy after he saw Lane in a car with another man, 'Karen didn't deserve what happened to her,' Hunt said. 'You have your come-to-Jesus moment,' he added. 'Of course, after the fact, you can't believe what has happened. You can't believe you were part of it and did it.' This was the sixth time a state has killed an inmate with nitrogen gas. With Post wires.
Politico
23 minutes ago
- Politico
How the Indictment Against Rep. LaMonica McIver Could Flop
The indictment of Rep. LaMonica McIver on Tuesday marks the latest dramatic escalation in the Trump administration's effort to quell public and political opposition to the president's crackdown on illegal immigration. It's also likely to be a dud. The decision to proceed with an indictment following the initial charges against the New Jersey Democrat comes at a politically volatile moment — following President Donald Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard and the Marines in response to protests in Los Angeles, and in the midst of ongoing wrangling over the scope and legality of the administration's deportation effort. In recent weeks, that effort has generated heartrending images from courthouse arrests and more admissions of mistaken deportations from the Justice Department. Meanwhile, the administration is moving to deport hundreds of thousands of people who entered the country legally under the last administration. The Justice Department's prosecution of McIver — stemming from a scuffle with Homeland Security agents in Newark last month — cannot be disentangled from this context. And that may ultimately prove to be the undoing of the case. Ordinarily, there is a baseline assumption in any given federal prosecution that the Justice Department will obtain a conviction, because that is what happens more than 90 percent of the time. In McIver's case, however, the factual circumstances and charges are unique, and they come with all sorts of quirks and political freight — not the least of which is the fact that the administration prosecuting her over a fracas at a government facility is the same one that pardoned hundreds of people accused (and in many cases convicted) of violently assaulting or resisting officers during the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Ultimately, conviction at a trial — if it ever gets there — is far from assured. And for a variety of reasons, the odds that McIver will ever spend a day in prison on the charges appear to be low, if not close to zero. The indictment charges McIver with two felony counts of physically assaulting, resisting or impeding two Homeland Security agents during an altercation that occurred last month after McIver and two other House members showed up to inspect an ICE detention facility in Newark. New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka was also present. A third count in the indictment appears to charge McIver for the same conduct in the form of a single misdemeanor. Prosecutors initially charged McIver with the first two counts in a criminal complaint shortly after the encounter. A criminal complaint is a charging document that requires approval only by a magistrate judge, and it is often used when prosecutors want to begin a case quickly (without having to empanel and present evidence to a grand jury). In order to proceed on felony charges, however, prosecutors must eventually get an indictment from a grand jury. The Justice Department alleges that one of the agents instructed Baraka to leave a secure part of the area outside the facility while at the same time acknowledging that as a member of Congress — who has the legal right to inspect ICE detention facilities without providing advance notice — McIver could remain. A scuffle ensued as McIver and others sought to prevent the removal of Baraka, who was eventually arrested on a trespassing charge. The indictment alleges that McIver 'slammed her forearm into the body' of one agent and 'reached out and tried to restrain [him] by forcibly grabbing him.' The indictment further alleges that, after Baraka's arrest, McIver 'pushed past' the second officer and used 'each of her forearms to forcibly strike [him] as she returned inside of the secured area of the facility.' The felony charges come with a maximum penalty of eight years — and no readily identifiable precedent. (The misdemeanor count maxes out at a year.) We are relatively used to seeing members of Congress charged with white-collar crimes, like insider trading or bribery. Lawmakers are also sometimes arrested during nonviolent protests. That happened, for instance, during the Biden administration, when 17 members of Congress were arrested during a protest outside the Supreme Court over abortion rights. They each paid a $50 fine to resolve the matter. The claim against McIver is that she attempted to forcibly interfere with Baraka's arrest, but the first red flag against DOJ's argument is that prosecutors quickly dropped the charge against Baraka. The federal magistrate judge overseeing the Baraka case described the 'hasty arrest' as a 'worrisome misstep' and the dismissal of the charge as an 'embarrassing retraction.' It is not the sort of fact pattern that generally gives rise to prosecutions of secondary figures on the scene, much less a sitting member of Congress. McIver also has defenses that she can assert at the pretrial stages and, if necessary, during a trial itself. One possible defense out of the gate is for McIver to invoke the Constitution's Speech and Debate clause, which provides civil and criminal immunity for members of Congress engaged in legislative activity, including oversight activity. Still, it is not clear how a judge would resolve this argument, since the law in this area is notoriously unclear, and cases are often decided on fact-specific grounds. Here, there is little question that McIver's oversight activity at the facility — at least as an initial matter — is entitled to some form of criminal immunity, but the dispute will concern the precise scope of that protection. Prosecutors are likely to argue that any such immunity does not extend to a physical assault on federal law enforcement officers because that particular conduct is not legislative in nature. If the case does go to trial, it should be brief — perhaps a one- or two-day affair. McIver is being represented by Paul Fishman, a well-regarded former U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, who has previewed the trial defense in comments to the press in which he has described a 'melee' prompted by federal agents who were seeking to arrest Baraka and a resulting 'fracas' that enveloped McIver. 'At times she was barely able to keep her balance,' Fishman said, and at others 'she was shoved and seemed to raise her arm in an effort to free it.' He added, 'To say a jury could conclude she should be convicted criminally, when the charges against Baraka have already been dismissed, is a stretch to say the least — especially given that she was not arrested at the scene and agents later allowed her to conduct the site visit.' This is a sound defense, particularly given the fact that the statute requires the Justice Department to establish — beyond a reasonable doubt — that McIver 'forcibly' assaulted or resisted law enforcement officers. The video available to date is not crystal clear about what took place, but it does suggest something far less nefarious — a regrettable scrum in which McIver, who is not exactly a towering or physically intimidating figure, tried to maintain her balance while reacting to a highly unusual altercation with officers that was premised on an arrest that they have since effectively disavowed. The politics of the venue could also come into play and work sharply against the Justice Department. The jury pool for the court in Newark where McIver was charged is drawn from counties in northern New Jersey that, in the aggregate, are not favorable terrain for Trump. Former Vice President Kamala Harris outperformed Trump in those counties in the 2024 election by a margin of roughly 55-42 percentage points. Then there is the broader political context, which may prove impossible for some jurors to ignore. Shortly after McIver's initial arrest, Trump told reporters, 'She was shoving federal agents. She was out of control. The days of that crap are over in this country.' This may come as news to anyone whose memory stretches all the way back to January, when Trump pardoned hundreds of violent criminals who tried to overrun the U.S. Capitol in a clash with law enforcement in order to overturn the 2020 election in his favor. Or to anyone who knows that Trump has pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of dozens of political allies who were convicted of serious offenses. Trump's campaign of selective and politically expedient benevolence is not exactly consistent with the tough-on-crime ethos that he has otherwise tried to project. Under the circumstances, it is not hard to envision one or more jurors refusing to convict McIver on these grounds alone — or, indeed, for her to be fully acquitted by a unanimous verdict of the jurors. The charges certainly appear to many as both politically motivated and, at a bare minimum, unwarranted as a matter of appropriate prosecutorial discretion. Meanwhile, in the event that McIver is convicted in a trial, the odds of her being sentenced to any prison time are low. Perhaps she would get a fine, but she would be a first-time offender, and one of the factors that sentencing judges must consider is 'the need to avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct.' In that context, if Justice Department prosecutors actually sought prison time, Trump's Jan. 6 pardons could present a major — and perhaps insurmountable — obstacle. Not surprisingly, the Trump administration has already sought to project an air of confidence around the case in public comments, with acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney (and former Trump lawyer) Alina Habba saying that Tuesday's 'decision by the grand jury is the next step in a process that my Office will pursue to a just end.' The truth is that, depending on how things play out, the whole thing could eventually blow up in their faces.
