Final 2 former Mississippi officers sentenced for torturing 2 Black men in racist attack

RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the fifth and a sixth former Mississippi law enforcement officers for breaking into a home last year and torturing two Black men as part of a group of white officers who called themselves the “Goon Squad.”

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U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced former Rankin County Sheriff’s Office chief investigator Brett McAlpin, 53, to serve more than 27 years in prison, The Associated Press reported. Later Thursday, Lee sentenced former Richland police Offer Joshua Hartfield, 32, to about 10 years in prison, according to the news agency.

Four other officers were earlier sentenced for the January 2023 attack on Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.

Hartfield sentenced to about 10 years in prison

Update 12:45 p.m. EDT March 21: Prosecutors said former RCSO narcotics investigator Christian Lee Dedmon brought Hartfield to the home where Jenkins and Parker were staying in January 2023. Hartfield kicked open a back door to get inside, though neither him nor any of the other officers had a warrant, officials said.

Hartfield used his stun gun on Jenkins and Parker repeatedly and helped to hide evidence of the attack, court records show. He took the hard drive from the home’s surveillance system and later threw it into the Steen Creek in Florence, officials said.

Earlier Thursday, Lee sentenced McAlpin to more than 27 years in prison for his role in the attack.

Original report: McAlpin did not look at the victims, identified as Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, as he appeared in court on Thursday and offered an apology, CNN reported.

“Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins, I want you to know I’m sorry for what you went through,” he said, according to the news station.

“I’m sorry to your families because I have three boys and I know I would feel the very same, no different than you did, for what happened to Michael and Eddie. What happened was wrong.”

Court records show McAlpin was the chief investigator with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 24, 2023, when a white neighbor complained to him about Black men who were staying at a home in Braxton. He contacted then-RCSO narcotics investigator Christian Lee Dedmon, 29, and told him “to take care of it,” prosecutors said. Dedmon then reached out to a group of officers who went by the “Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force and not to report it.

That night, McAlpin, Dedmon, Hartfield and three other officers burst into the home without a warrant and tortured Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects, court records show. They used racial slurs through the attack and kept the pair handcuffed for most of the attack.

Court records show McAlpin and another officer, Lt. Jeffrey Arwood Middleton — the leader of the Goon Squad — stole rubber mats from the home. Prosecutor said he planned to grab a Class A military uniform too, but he was distracted when he heard two gunshots coming from another room. RCSO patrol Deputy Hunter Thomas Elward had intended to carry out a pair of mock executions and stuck his gun in Jenkins’ mouth, court records show. The second time, the gun fired, lacerating Jenkins’ tongue and breaking his jaw.

As Jenkins was bleeding on the ground, the officers got together to settle on a cover story, later planting evidence that would prompt false charges against their victims for months.

The officers pleaded guilty to federal charges last summer.

On Wednesday, Lee sentenced former RCSO patrol Deputy Daniel Ready Opdyke, 28, to 17.5 years in prison for his role in the attack. He also handed down a 40-year sentence for Dedmon.

One day earlier, Lee sentenced Elward to 20 years in prison and gave Middleton a sentence of 17.5 years.

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