JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers, who pled guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men, will be sentenced this week.
On Monday, the victims of the so-called “Goon Squad,” Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, and their attorneys called for a federal judge to impose the strictest possible penalties at their sentencings this week.
“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County deputies,” Malik Shabazz said in a statement. “A message must be sent to police in Mississippi and all over America,” he said, that such criminal conduct “will be met with the harshest of consequences.”
Jenkins and Parker were subjected to numerous acts of racially motivated, violent torture in January 2023.
According to court documents, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee rescheduled the hearings for the former officers on the following dates:
- Hunter Elward – March 19, 2024
- Jeffrey Middleton – March 19, 2024
- Christian Dedmon – March 20, 2024
- Daniel Opdyke – March 20, 2024
- Joshua Hartfield – March 21, 2024
- Brett McAlpin – March 21, 2024
In a January 2023 episode, a group of six officers burst into a home without a warrant and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects, prosecutors said in court, reading a lengthy description of the abuse.
After a mock execution went awry when Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they devised a coverup that included planting drugs and a gun. False charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months.
The conspiracy unraveled after one officer told the sheriff he had lied, leading to confessions from the others.
Former Rankin County sheriff’s Deputies McAlpin, Elward, Dedmon, Middleton and Opdyke, and former Richland city police Officer Hartfield, who was off duty during the assault, pleaded guilty to numerous federal and state charges, including assault, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
They agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years, although the judge isn’t bound by that agreement. Time served for separate convictions at the state level will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.
The charges followed an investigation by The Associated Press that linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries.
Prosecutors say some of the officers called themselves the “Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force and cover up attacks.
The former officers agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years, although the judge isn’t bound by that agreement. Time served for separate convictions at the state level will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey called the crimes by his deputies the worst case of police brutality he had ever seen. For months, Bailey said little about the episode. After the officers pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said the officers had gone rogue and promised to change the department.
Jenkins and Parker have called for his resignation, and they have filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.