Overview
- Caleb Blair admitted in Oneida County Court to first-degree manslaughter for the 2025 fatal beating of 22-year-old inmate Messiah Nantwi and accepted an 11-year sentence set for June 17.
- Blair entered the plea moments before jury selection was to start, after originally facing a murder charge stemming from the Mid-State Correctional Facility incident near Utica.
- Prosecutors said Nantwi died of massive head trauma after 69 blows from guards using fists, boots, and batons, and they identified Blair as one of two officers who delivered head strikes.
- Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said Nantwi’s family agreed to the deal and urged changes in how prisons manage staff and their interactions with people in custody.
- The case has produced a string of outcomes that include a jury conviction of former guard Jonah Levi and a false-reporting plea by Craig Klemick, with several other pleas entered and only one case still awaiting trial; the beating occurred during an unauthorized guard walkout that led the governor to send in National Guard members, and the indictment also detailed an alleged cover-up involving false reports and efforts to stage evidence.