One Guard Pleads Guilty, Another Receives Light Sentence in New York Prisoner’s Killing
by Jo Ellen Nott
As part of the ongoing legal proceedings in the death of 22-year-old New York state prisoner Messiah Nantwi, Mid-State Correctional Facility guard Francis Chandler pled guilty in Oneida County Court to second-degree gang assault on October 16, 2025, according to Nexstar Media Group of Syracuse. Chandler, one of ten guards indicted in the March 1, 2025, incident, accepted a plea deal that mandates a four-year state prison sentence, narrowly avoiding a possible conviction on the top charge of first-degree manslaughter. His plea added to the growing list of guards who have accepted lesser charges and indicates a systemic effort by guard staff to limit accountability in Nantwi’s death. Chandler was set for sentencing in January 2026.
In other news related to the cover-up surrounding Nantwi’s murder, a former guard received a trivial sentence on October 31, 2025, as reported by the Rome Daily Sentinel. Donald Slawson, 53, initially charged with tampering with physical evidence, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor of attempted tampering and was given a one-year conditional discharge—with his resignation being the only meaningful consequence.
Prosecutors said Nantwi was beaten in his cell, in a stairwell and then at the prison infirmary after he was brought inside. Slawson admitted to mopping the blood off the floor of the Mid-State infirmary after the beating. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.43.] Meanwhile, suspended guard Michael Iffert, charged with filing a false instrument, rejected a similar plea deal and faces up to four years in prison if convicted. Slawson’s minor conviction reinforces the system’s tendency to offer lenient punishment to guard staff involved in criminal misconduct, even in cases tied to a death.
Iffert is scheduled for a December 2025 hearing to confirm a March 23, 2026, trial date with four other guards, showing a commitment to fighting accountability in court. Five of the ten indicted guards have now pleaded guilty, while the others head toward trial.
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