Ex. Prison guard Jonah Levi was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of an inmate at the Mid-State Correctional Center in Marcy.
Levi was convicted in April of murdering inmate Messiah Nantwi.
A total of ten guards were charged over Nantwi’s death, nine of whom agreed to plead guilty.
While Levi received the maximum sentence after the jury found him guilty in the April verdict on charges of first-degree manslaughter, gang assault and filing a fictitious act. However, the judge acquitted him on the murder charge.
An emotional scene played out in the Oneida courtroom before the judge announced the verdict, according to Localsyra local outlet in East Syracuse, New York.
Levi then addressed the court and apologized.
“I’m just very remorseful, sir, for everything that happened,” Levi said.
“I don’t think a father should have to bury his son. I feel horrible about it,” he continued.
But the judge appeared unimpressed by Levi’s remorse and criticized Levi for failing to comply with his duties related to his position as a correctional officer.
“When you became a corrections officer, you took an oath to protect people who are sometimes so bad that they need to be removed from society,” the judge noted. “You, sir, did not.”
After Levi’s conviction, no further trials are scheduled in the Mid-State case, but more convictions are still to come.
