JACKSON, ma’am. — Two black men who were tortured by six Mississippi law enforcement officers last year called on a federal judge on Monday to impose the strictest possible sentences on their convictions this week.
The former attorneys admitted in August to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous racially motivated and violent tortures.
Following a neighbor’s complaint in January 2023 that Jenkins and Parker were staying at a house with a white woman, the group of six burst in without a warrant and attacked Jenkins and Parker with narcotic weapons, a sex toy and other items.
After a mock execution went wrong when Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they came up with a cover-up that included planting drugs and a gun. The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department subsequently supported the deputies’ false allegations, which stymied Jenkins and Parker for months.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will sentence two defendants each day, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, after twice adjourning proceedings.
An attorney for Jenkins and Parker on Monday called for the “severest punishments.”
“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County officers,” Malik Shabazz said in a statement. “A message must be sent to law enforcement in Mississippi and across America,” he said, that such criminal behavior “will face the harshest consequences.”
Jenkins and Parker were scheduled to address reporters Monday afternoon.
The indicted officers include former Rankin deputies Brett McAlpin, Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, and Joshua Hartfield, a former Richland police officer. They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstruction of justice, deprivation of rights under law, discharge of a firearm in connection with a violent crime and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Most of their attorneys did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Monday. Jason Kirschberg, representing Opdyke, said: “Daniel has accepted responsibility for his actions and his failure to act. … He has admitted he was wrong and feels deep remorse for the pain he caused the victims.”
The former officers agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years, although the judge is not bound by that agreement. Time served for individual state-level convictions will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.
An investigation by The Associated Press published in March 2023 linked some deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019, leaving two dead and another with permanent injuries.
Shabazz said the false charges against the victims were not dropped until June. At that point, federal and state investigators began approaching the deputies, and one of them started talking. They were fired shortly afterward, and prosecutors announced the federal charges in August.
Prosecutors say some officers nicknamed themselves the “Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force and cover up attacks.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey called his deputies’ crimes 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 been rogue and vowed to change the department.
Jenkins and Parker have demanded his resignation and filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department.
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The spelling of Brett and McAlpin has been corrected.
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Michael Goldberg is a staff member for 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.