6 former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to torturing 2 Black men to be sentenced this week
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By Emma Tucker, Ryan Young and Jade Gordon, CNN
Jackson, Mississippi (CNN) — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to torturing two Black men will be sentenced this week, starting with two officers Tuesday and the others on Wednesday and Thursday.
Details of the January 24, 2023, incident in Braxton, just southeast of Jackson, came to light after the victims, Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins – both of whom are Black – filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in June.
Many of the claims were later borne out by federal prosecutors in August as the six former Mississippi officers pleaded guilty to a combined 13 felonies in connection with the torture and abuse of the two men.
Former Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Christian Dedmon, Daniel Opdyke, Jeffrey Middleton, as well as former Richland Police Department officer Joshua Hartfield, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of justice related to the incident.
Elward will be first to be sentenced Tuesday morning before Judge Tom Lee of Southern District of Mississippi, followed by Middleton on Tuesday afternoon. Dedmon and Opdyke will be sentenced Wednesday and Hartfield and McAlpin on Thursday. Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum sentences for the officers.
Elward faces the most serious of charges stemming from the 2023 incident – discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces up to 30 years in prison, the charging document shows. McAlpin, Middleton, Dedmon, Opdyke and Hartfield each face up to 20 years in prison.
Parker and Jenkins, along with their families and attorneys, spoke at a news conference in Jackson on Monday, saying they are hoping for the maximum sentences for all six officers, whose actions both victims say was motivated by their race. Some of the officers called themselves “The Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force and not report it, federal prosecutors said.
“The day of justice has finally come for the Rankin County ‘Goon Squad,’” Malik Shabazz, lead attorney for Parker and Jenkins, said Monday. “It’s an important day, not only for Mississippi, but it’s an important day for accountability, for police brutality all across America.”
The case – rife with shocking details – comes as police use of force, particularly against people of color, remains under scrutiny nationwide.
Lawsuit detailed abuse by officers
In their lawsuit, Jenkins and Parker alleged the officers illegally entered their home and handcuffed, kicked, waterboarded and tased them and attempted to sexually assault them over nearly two hours before one of the deputies put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and shot him.
The deputies, “in their repeated use of racial slurs in the course of their violent acts, were oppressive and hateful against their African-American victims,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants were motivated on the basis of race and the color of the skin of the persons they assaulted.”
Shabazz said during Monday’s news conference their civil rights litigation is ongoing and the issues raised in the lawsuit “have not been resolved.”
Three of the officers, Dedmon, Elward and Opdyke, also pleaded guilty in federal court to felonies related to a separate incident in December 2022, according to the Justice Department. They will also be sentenced on those charges this week.
The six former officers also pleaded guilty to state charges against them stemming from the January 2023 incident and await sentencing on those counts. Each was charged with conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, according to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
Dedmon was also charged with home invasion and Elward with home invasion and aggravated assault. McAlpin, Middleton, Opdyke and Hartfield were also charged with first-degree obstruction of justice. They await sentencing on the state charges.
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