Jonah Levi was sentenced to 25 years in prison on the conviction that ended the case against the former prison guard at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy. He had been found guilty in April of manslaughter, gang assault and filing a false instrument, while a jury acquitted him on a murder charge.

The sentence closes one of the most closely watched prosecutions tied to the death of Messiah Nantwi, who died from his injuries after being beaten by guards on March 1 at the prison in Oneida County. The special prosecutor asked for the maximum sentence, while the defense urged the judge to impose a minimum of five years.

Levi’s prison term arrives in a case that has widened far beyond one courtroom. Ten guards were indicted in Nantwi’s death, and nine of them have already reached plea deals, underscoring how much of the case has been resolved before trial. The prosecution has treated the killing as part of a broader breakdown inside the facility, not an isolated act by one officer.

The death of Nantwi also came months after the beating death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility, which sits across the street from Mid-State. That sequence has made the two cases inseparable in public view and has put continued scrutiny on the conduct of staff inside the state prison system.

For Levi, the sentence leaves no ambiguity about where the case stands now: he will spend a quarter-century in prison for his role in the beating that killed Nantwi. What remains unresolved is how far the plea agreements and convictions will ultimately carry the investigation into what happened inside Mid-State on March 1.