By Jon Moss
syracuse.com
UTICA, N.Y. — A third New York state corrections officer has pleaded guilty in connection with the fatal beating of an inmate earlier this year at a Central New York prison.
The corrections officer, Nicholas Vitale, pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a misdemeanor.
Vitale was one of 10 corrections officers indicted in the March death of the inmate, Messiah Nantwi. He originally faced two felony charges — fifth-degree conspiracy and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
Oneida County Court Judge Michael Nolan sentenced Vitale to a one-year conditional discharge, according to online court records.
Multiple corrections officers are accused delivering several beatings to Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County.
They used their fists, batons and boots to strike Nantwi, prosecutors said. Nantwi 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.
Two guards were charged with murder. They and five others were charged with manslaughter.
The guards were not wearing their body cameras, as required by state policy, prosecutors said.
Nine other guards who were indicted alongside Vitale have pleaded not guilty. They are scheduled to appear again in court later this summer.
Prosecutors previously said they had obtained pleas from six cooperating witnesses. Two of them, Joshua Bartlett and Nathan Palmer, have pleaded guilty in open court.
Nantwi died during a turbulent time for the state prison system.
Many corrections officers had been on an illegal wildcat strike for weeks, despite a judge ordering them back to work. Thousands of National Guard personnel were deployed to prisons across the state.
In a separate case, nine corrections officers and a prison sergeant face charges related to the fatal beating of inmate Robert L. Brooks on Dec. 9 at Marcy Correctional Facility. That prison is across the street from the Mid-State prison.
Two of those employees has pleaded guilty. The eight others are scheduled to appear again in court this summer.
Three additional prison system employees have reached plea agreements and at least three others remain under criminal investigation, prosecutors said earlier this year.
Multiple corrections officers repeatedly punched and kicked Brooks in the groin, abdomen and face in the prison infirmary, prosecutors said. He died hours later at a Utica hospital.
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