JACKSON, ma’am. — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will sentence two defendants each day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after twice adjourning proceedings. Both face the potential of decades behind bars.
The former attorneys admitted in August to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous racially motivated and violent tortures. In a January 2023 episode, the group of six burst into a home in Rankin County without warrants and attacked Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Parker with narcotic weapons, a sex toy and other items.
The terror started on January 24, 2023 with a racist call for extrajudicial violence.
A white man called Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two black men were staying with a white woman at a home in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white officers so willing to use excessive force that they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”
Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup on their faces. They forced them to undress and shower together to hide the mess. They mocked the victims with racist comments and shocked them with stun guns.
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. There were false charges against Jenkins and Parker for months.
Before the sentencing, Jenkins and Parker called for the “toughest sentences” at a news conference on Monday.
“It’s been really hard for me and for us,” Jenkins said. “We hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
Jenkins suffered a torn tongue and a broken jaw. He still has trouble talking and eating.
Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing both men, said the outcome of the sentencing hearings could have national ramifications.
“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County officers,” Shabazz said. “A message needs to be sent to law enforcement in Mississippi and across America that this level of criminal behavior will be reached. with the most serious consequences.”
Months before federal prosecutors announced the charges in August 2023, an investigation by The Associated Press linked some deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with permanent injuries.
The indicted officers include McAlpin, Dedmon, Hunter 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, 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.”
Under the federal charges, Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines. Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and $1.5 million, McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine.
The former officers agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years in state court, but time served for separate state convictions will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.
Predominantly white Rankin County is located just east of the state capital, Jackson, and is home to one of the highest percentages of black residents of any major American city.
The officers warned Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and return to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” court documents say, referring to an area with higher concentrations of black residents.
In the heinous crimes committed by men charged with enforcing the law, federal prosecutors saw echoes of Mississippi’s dark history, including the 1964 murders of three civil rights activists after a sheriff’s deputy turned them over to the Ku Klux Klan.
For months, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, whose deputies committed the crimes, 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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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.