6 ex-Mississippi officers face state sentencing in 'Goon Squad' torture case
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JACKSON, Miss. – The six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who last month were handed yearslong federal prison sentences for torturing two Black men will face another round of sentencing Wednesday.
Former Rankin County Sheriff's deputies Brett McAlpin, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield pleaded guilty to state charges in August after Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker accused them of bursting into a home without a warrant, calling them racial slurs, beating them, assaulting them with a sex toy, and shooting Jenkins in the mouth in January 2023. Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, described the attack as "torture."
The former officers, some of whom referred to themselves as the "Goon Squad," later created a false cover story and fabricated evidence to hide their crimes, according to the federal indictment.
Sentencing on the state charges comes after the men pleaded guilty to more than a dozen federal charges and were sentenced to between 10 and 40 years in federal prison in March. Malik Shabazz, a lawyer for Jenkins and Parker, said in a statement that Wednesday's sentencing "will be a test" to see if the former law enforcement officers are held accountable.
"The state criminal sentencing is important because, historically, the state of Mississippi has lagged behind or ignored racial crimes and police brutality against Blacks, and the Department of Justice has had to lead the way," Shabazz said. "The nation expects a change on Wednesday."
"The state criminal sentencing is important because, historically, the state of Mississippi has lagged behind or ignored racial crimes and police brutality against Blacks, and the Department of Justice has had to lead the way," Shabazz said. "The nation expects a change on Wednesday."
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