By Jon Moss
syracuse.com
UTICA, N.Y. — A former sergeant pleaded guilty Thursday to assault in connection with the fatal beating of an inmate earlier this year at a Central New York prison.
Francis Chandler Jr. pleaded guilty to second-degree gang assault. He was promised a sentence of four years in state prison.
Chandler had been indicted on the assault charge, as well as second-degree manslaughter, two counts of fifth-degree conspiracy, first-degree offering of a false instrument and tampering with evidence.
A series of corrections officers are accused of delivering multiple beatings to inmate Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County.
They used their fists, batons and boots to strike Nantwi, prosecutors have said. He was found with no signs of life 45 minutes after the guards first entered his cell.
The officers then worked to cover their tracks, prosecutors said. They are accused of falsifying forms, planting a weapon and meeting the following day at a local diner to agree on a false story.
Ten guards were indicted in the case, including two for murder. They and five others were charged with manslaughter.
Another six people have agreed to become cooperating witnesses for the prosecution.
Chandler pleaded guilty in a Utica courtroom across the hall from where three corrections officers are on trial for a fatal beating at a different prison — nearby Marcy Correctional — last winter. A jury began deliberations in that case late Wednesday afternoon.
Chandler is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 16.
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