Mississippi Law Enforcement Officials Sentenced in Torture Case

TFD – Dive into the legal proceedings as former Mississippi law enforcement officials receive sentences in a high-profile torture case. Explore the implications of these convictions and punishments at TheFoxDaily.

Six former Mississippi law enforcement officials who mistreated two Black men for hours on end received sentences ranging from 15 to 45 years in prison on Wednesday in state court.

Their penalties, which vary from 10 to 40 years in jail, will be served concurrently with the federal terms that were decided last month.

The ex-officers had pleaded guilty after the torture of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker at a home in January 2023.

On Wednesday, Rankin County circuit court convicted former Richland Police Department officer Joshua Hartfield together with five former Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies: Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Christian Dedmon, Daniel Opdyke, and Jeffrey Middleton.

The group of White officers raided the home in Braxton without a warrant, subjected the two Black men to racist vitriol, used Tasers on them after they had already been handcuffed, beat them with various objects and one of them shot Jenkins in the mouth, prosecutors said.

Jenkins’ statement, which was read aloud by his lawyer Malik Shabazz, detailed the trauma he experienced just prior to Wednesday’s punishment.

“During this incident, Eddie and I were called derogatory names. The statement added, “We were accused of dating White women and called names like boy, n***er, and monkey.”

“They left me bleeding on the ground to die after Hunter Elward shot me. And they attempted to set me up for incarceration,” Jenkins stated in his statement. “Your honor, I was killed by them. Simply said, I survived.

Real-time updates: Members of Mississippi’s “Goon Squad” are sentenced

What will transpire with the officers?

The state accused all of the former policemen of plotting to impede justice.

Elward and Dedmon were both charged with aggravated assault and house invasion, respectively.

Hartfield, Middleton, Opdyke, and McAlpin were also charged with first-degree obstruction of justice.

Some of the former cops will now serve longer prison terms because to the state charges, even though all state sentences will run concurrently with federal penalties:

Elward received a concurrent 45-year jail sentence from a state court, to be served in addition to his 20-year federal sentence.

– Middleton received a 20-year jail sentence from a state court, to be served in addition to his 17.5-year federal sentence.

– Opdyke received a 20-year jail sentence from a state court, which will serve in addition to his 17.5-year federal sentence.

– Hartfield received a 15-year jail sentence from a state court, which will serve in addition to his 10-year federal sentence.

– Dedmon received a concurrent 25-year jail sentence from a state court, to be served in addition to his 40-year federal sentence.

– McAlpin received a 20-year jail sentence from a state court, which will run concurrently with his somewhat longer 27-year federal sentence.

The hearing was held in a circuit court on Wednesday morning. The court is located in the center of Brandon, the county seat of Rankin County, across the street from a Confederate monument, and about 20 miles from the residence where Parker and Jenkins were tortured because of their race.

The 1907 monument, which is topped by a statue of a Confederate soldier, is the target of a national petition launched by the NAACP, which claims the monument represents decades of racist culture in the county.

The course of the abuse

On January 24, 2023, in Braxton, a little town southeast of Jackson, the torture took place. It was discovered following the filing of a $400 million federal lawsuit by the two victims, which is currently pending. Numerous allegations made in the lawsuit were included in the federal charging sheet.

The six law enforcement agents, according to the two men, broke into both Parker’s residence and the house of a woman he assisted in caring for. Before Elward put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and shot him, they attempted to sexually abuse Jenkins and Parker for about two hours, beating, waterboarding, and using Tasers on them.

After receiving a report from a White neighbor about multiple Black men sleeping at a White woman’s home and noticing suspicious conduct, the police went to the residence. However, according to the prosecution, they were unable to uncover any criminal activity.

Federal prosecutors said in court records that at least three of them, Elward, Middleton, and Opdyke, were members of a gang of deputies who dubbed themselves “The Goon Squad” due to their propensity to use excessive force and fail to report it.

When announcing the state charges in August, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch stated, “This brutal attack caused more than physical harm to these two individual victims; it severed that vital trust with the people.” “We will not put up with this abuse of power.

According to court documents, the former policemen entered a guilty plea to federal counts of conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of justice. Elward was charged with the most serious federal offense related to the torture: firing a gun during a violent crime.

Middleton boasted about the organization with Rankin County Sheriff’s Department badges stamped with the words “Goon Squad,” evoking images of a noose and a Confederate flag, as Justice Department attorneys detailed in court.

This is a work in progress that will be updated.