New York Attorney General Recuses Herself From Inquiry Into Prison Death

For the second time in three months, the office of New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, said it was recusing itself from investigating the death of a prisoner whom other inmates said had been brutally beaten by guards.

As occurred in the case of the earlier death, a special prosecutor will take over the inquiry into the death of Messiah Nantwi, 22, who died last week after being held at Mid-State Correctional Facility in central New York, Ms. James’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement said the recusal was necessary because lawyers in her office were already defending five of the 15 corrections employees involved in the events that preceded the death in unrelated civil lawsuits.

Gregory S. Oakes, an assistant attorney general, said in the office’s request for recusal “that as many as nine corrections officers caused the death of Messiah Nantwi or committed acts that contributed thereto, and thereby committed a crime.”

Ms. James appointed William J. Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney, as the special prosecutor. Just last month, Mr. Fitzpatrick brought charges against 10 officers in connection with the killing of another prisoner, Robert L. Brooks, in December. Six of the officers were charged with murder.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said in a statement that Mr. Fitzpatrick had accepted the role as the special prosecutor and that he would not comment further “until the grand jury has taken action.”