By MICHAEL GOLDBERG (Associated Press/Report for America)
In Jackson, Miss. (AP), Hunter Elward, a former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy, was sentenced to around 20 years in jail for his role in torturing two Black men last year.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced Hunter Elward to 241 months. Lee is also set to sentence five other former law enforcement officers who confessed to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to various acts of racist torture.
Before the sentence, Lee described Elward's crimes as extremely terrible and said that a sentence at the top of the guidelines range is justified — even more than justified. He added: “It’s what the defendant deserves. It’s what the community and the defendant’s victims deserve.”
In January 2023, a group of six burst into a Rankin County home without a warrant and attacked Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other items. Elward confessed to thrusting a gun into Jenkins’ mouth and firing in a “mock execution” that went wrong.
The terror started on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence.
A white person called Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Deputy Christian Dedmon, who messaged a group of white deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”
Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess. They mocked the victims with racial slurs and shocked them with stun guns.
After a mock execution went wrong when Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they came up with a coverup that involved planting drugs and a gun. False charges were brought against Jenkins and Parker for months.
Before sentencing, Jenkins and Parker called for the “stiffest of sentences” at a news conference on Monday.
“It’s been very hard for me, for us,” Jenkins said. “We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”
Jenkins suffered a lacerated tongue and broken jaw. He still has trouble speaking and eating.
Malik Shabazz, a lawyer representing both men, said the outcome of the sentencing hearings could have national implications.
“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County deputies,” Shabazz said. “A message must be sent to police in Mississippi and all over America, that level of criminal conduct will be met with the harshest of consequences.”
Months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August 2023, an investigation by The Associated Press 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.
The officers charged include McAlpin, Dedmon, Elward, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer. They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Court papers identified Hunter Elward as one of the Goon Squad members. The others identified as part of the squad were Middleton and Opdyke.
Most of their attorneys did not reply to emails asking for a statement on Monday. Jason Kirschberg, who represents Opdyke, stated: “Daniel has taken responsibility for his actions and his lack of action. He has acknowledged he was wrong and feels deep regret for the harm he caused the victims.”
Elward faced up to 120 years in prison and a life sentence, plus $2.75 million in fines on the federal charges, as did Dedmon. Hartfield faced a potential 80-year sentence and $1.5 million in fines, McAlpin faced 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faced 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could receive a 100-year sentence with a $2 million fine.
The former officers accepted sentences recommended by the prosecutor, ranging from five to 30 years in state court, but any time served for separate convictions at the state level will be served at the same time as the possibly longer federal sentences.
The mostly white Rankin County is located just to the east of the state capital, Jackson, which is home to one of the highest proportions of Black residents of any major U.S. city.
The officers cautioned Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and return to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” court documents state, referring to an area with a higher number of Black residents.
In the horrific crimes committed by men responsible for upholding the law, federal prosecutors saw similarities to Mississippi’s dark history, including the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers after a deputy handed them over to the Ku Klux Klan.
For months, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, whose deputies committed the crimes, said very little about the incident. After the officers pleaded guilty in August, Bailey stated the officers had acted independently and pledged to reform the department. Jenkins and Parker have called for his resignation and have filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department.
___
Michael Goldberg is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.
