Whew! These Ex-Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ Officers Are Going to Jail for a Long Time

Civil lead counsel Malik Shabazz, center, speaks to reporters following the sentencing of the fourth former Rankin County law enforcement officer, while his client Michael Corey Jenkins, right, listens while outside the federal courthouse in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Christian Dedmon was sentenced for his part in the racist torture of Parker and Michael Corey Jenkins by a group of white officers who called themselves the “Goon Squad”

Civil lead counsel Malik Shabazz, center, speaks to reporters following the sentencing of the fourth former Rankin County law enforcement officer, while his client Michael Corey Jenkins, right, listens while outside the federal courthouse in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Christian Dedmon was sentenced for his part in the racist torture of Parker and Michael Corey Jenkins by a group of white officers who called themselves the “Goon Squad”
Photo: Rogelio V. Solis) (AP)

Members of the infamous Mississippi “Goon Squad” were sentenced on Wednesday for the racist attack and torture of two Black men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.

Small Town Horror Story: The Police Torture Of Two Innocent Black Men

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The white Rankin County officers, who nicknamed themselves the “Goon Squad,” plead guilty to assaulting Jenkins and Parker. According to The Guardian, ex-deputy Brett Morris McAlpin was told by a neighbor that Black people were living with a white woman. McAlpin and his fellow officers entered the home without a warrant and proceeded to brutally attack them. The officers reportedly waterboarded them, used tasers, made them strip naked and shower together, and attempted to sexually assault them.

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On Wednesday, Rankin County Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff sentenced the men to between 15 and 45 years in prison. Hunter Elward received the longest sentence of 45 years. While McAlpin was sentenced to 20 years, Christian Dedmon was sentenced to 25 years, and Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke were sentenced to 20 years. Joshua Hartfield, who was the only one of the attackers who was not a part of the “Goon Squad” or the Rankin County sheriff’s department received 15 years.

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A federal court previously sentenced the men to between 10 to 40 years. And they will serve their sentences concurrently.

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The victims’ attorney read their statements during the sentencing hearing, describing the impact of the attack on their lives. “Your honor, they killed me. I just didn’t die,” read Michael Jenkins’s statement, according to CNN. “I am a musician and a signer, and now because of the gunshot wound that shattered my jaw, I can no longer do what I love, and that’s sing,” he said, adding that he sometimes wakes up at night covered in sweat due to nightmares about what happened. “I’m broken inside, and I don’t think I will ever be the person I was.”

Eddie Parker also shared his statement with the court.

“I never knew the ones that were sworn to protect and serve would be the ones that needed protection from,” Parker’s statement read. “The humiliation and embarrassment from the sexual assault is too great for me to talk about. Therefore, I am in therapy now and for the future.”