Two More Guards Face Prison Time for Messiah Nantwi Killing
by Jo Ellen Knott
The fate of the at least ten guards involved in a brutal beating death of a prisoner in 2025 is moving towards its inevitable end with two more guards facing prison time.
Former Midstate Correctional Facility prison guard Caleb Blair accepted a plea deal on May 4, 2026, just as jury selection was scheduled to begin for his trial. According to reporting from WSTM in Syracuse, Blair, 28, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter for his role in the fatal beating of 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi in March 2025. PLN previously reported the April 2025 indictment which accused Blair and nine other guards of participating in the assault and meeting afterward at a local diner to fabricate a cover story. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.43.] While he initially faced murder charges and a potential sentence of 25 years to life, Blair will now only spend eleven years in prison. His conviction follows that of co-defendant Jonah Levi for first-degree manslaughter on April 1, 2026. [See: PLN, May 2026, p.66.]
In addition to Blair’s guilty plea, co-assailant and former state guard Francis Chandler, 24, at the Midstate Correctional Facility was sentenced to four years in prison on May 13, 2026, according to a report by WPTZ in Burlington. PLN covered Chandler’s guilty plea in Oneida County Court to second-degree gang assault on October 16, 2025. Chandler, originally charged with manslaughter, avoided a heavier penalty by pleading to gang assault. Co-defendant and fellow former officer Thomas Eck avoided a June 1 trial by pleading guilty to filing a false instrument, securing a deal that caps his upcoming July sentencing at one year in jail. [See: PLN, Dec. 2025, p.14.]
Sources: WPTZ, WSTM
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