Utica, New York — Former New York State prison guard To stand trial in the death of a prisoner The man stomped repeatedly during a brutal beating by a group of guards, a prosecutor told jurors on Tuesday.
Jonah Levy, charged with murder, was the first guard to stand trial after 10 were charged last April in connection with the death Christ Nantoi At a downstate correctional facility on March 1, 2025 — a time when the state prison system was experiencing a wildcat strike.
Prosecutors said Nantwi, 22, was subjected to 69 separate physical blows from guards who used their fists, boots and batons in a series of beatings. A witness testified Tuesday that Nantui was covered in blood and making noises in distress after being beaten in his room.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told jurors in his opening statement that investigators collected DNA evidence from shoes taken from Levy and a second guard who faces a second-degree murder charge.
Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, said: “With sheer depravity and recklessness, you will hear eyewitness testimony that Jonah Levy trampled on Nanto’s Christ several times. It is pathetic that his brother officers did nothing.”
Nantoy died of blunt force trauma to the head and other injuries to his body caused by the beating, according to prosecutors.
Levy’s attorney, Louis J. Spicer, told the jury that the use of force that morning was justified given Nanto’s aggressive behavior. He said Levi did not use any force that led to Nantui’s death.
“Mr. Levy was doing everything he was supposed to do,” Spicer said.
Nantui’s death came several months later Robert Brooks was fatally beaten In a separate prison across the road from Midstate. Prisoner advocates say that the two beating incidents illustrate the culture of violence practiced by guards in New York prisons.
His death also came as New York’s prisons struggled to operate during a three-week random waiting period Guards strike They were disturbed by the working conditions, which forced the governor to send National Guard forces.
Levy was part of an emergency response team called to the Nantui chamber to assist National Guard members who requested support after Nantui did not cooperate with a number of prisoners at the bedside.
Nicolas Mouzon, a National Guard member who was on duty that day, testified that Nantui would not leave the bathing area to be counted, repeatedly saying, “What if I don’t want to?” But he said Nantui immediately calmed down once backup was called.
Authorities 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’s jacket. Prosecutors claimed that the beating intensified after Nantwi bit the hand of one of the guards.
“He died because he protested being put in handcuffs and because he tried to bite someone’s finger,” Fitzpatrick said.
Mouzon said his view was limited from outside the room, but he saw a guard standing at Nantwi’s legs and hitting his feet with a baton. He later saw Nantui executed.
“His eyes were closed. He was making – the best way I can describe it – annoying dog noises. He was growling,” Mouzon said.
Prosecutors say the guards falsely claimed a makeshift knife was found as part of a cover-up effort.
Lewis told the jury that prosecutors presented a “highly edited” version of events. Nantui, who was high on synthetic marijuana, was the initial aggressor, Spicer said.
“You’ll hear him fight back,” Spicer said.
While the beating Brooks suffered months earlier was captured on body cameras, video footage will likely play a lesser role in this trial. Prosecutors say some of the guards involved in Nantui’s death were not wearing body cameras, turned them off, or looked the other way.
Along with murder, Levy 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.
Levi is the first guard to face the jury in the case. More than a half-dozen others pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to the incident and the alleged cover-up.
Nantui entered the state prison system in May 2024 and was serving a five-year sentence on a second-degree criminal possession of a weapon charge related to the gun exchange. Shooting with police officers In 2021. He was shot multiple times and the officers were not injured.
Manhattan prosecutors say Nantoy shot and killed Jaylen Duncan, 19, on a Harlem street in April 2023. The next evening, they say, he shot and killed Brandon Bronson, 36, at a smoke shop in Harlem after an argument.