(CN) — Six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers, once part of an extrajudicial police force calling itself the “Goon Squad,” were sentenced to long prison terms by a state court judge Wednesday in the January 2023 kidnapping and torture of a pair of Black citizens of Rankin County.
The crimes began when the former officers responded to a call that two Black men were “staying with” a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. Upon arrival, the officers entered the home without a warrant and detained Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.
Then, over the course of several hours, the officers kicked and punched the handcuffed men, used a Taser on them at least 17 times, “held them down and poured liquids on their faces, forcing them to involuntarily ingest these liquids; threw eggs at them and assaulted them with a dildo.”
One officer, 30-year-old Hunter Elward, put his handgun in Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger, causing injuries including a torn tongue, broken jaw and lacerated neck. Afterward, the defendants conspired to cover up their crimes, which included fabricating drug and gun evidence, destroying a surveillance video, a shell casing and taser cartridges, and filing false incident reports.
During the investigation, prosecutors discovered at least three other similar incidents of violence, including an episode when Rankin County Sheriff's officer Christian Dedmon shot at and sexually assaulted another subject in an attempt to coerce a confession.
Last month, in a separate civil rights case filed by the Department of Justice, the defendants received federal sentences of 10 to 40 years. Elward received a 20-year federal sentence in March and on Wednesday, Rankin County Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff ordered he serve a concurrent 45-year state sentence. Dedmon, who received a 40-year federal sentence, was sentenced to 25 years by the state.
The other defendants included Brett McAlpin, who was the most senior officer on the scene of the Jenkins and Parker torture. Sentenced to a 27-year federal prison term in March, he received a 20-year state sentence Wednesday.
Two other former Rankin County deputies sentenced for the crimes include Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, who each received a 17-year federal sentence and 20-year state sentence. A final defendant, former Richland Police Department investigator Joshua Hartfield, received a 10-year federal sentence and 15-year state sentence.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, who supervised the “Goon Squad” unit but claimed he was unaware of its illegal activities, was not charged with any crimes and remains on the job, despite calls for his resignation from some in the community.
“Bryan Bailey is ultimately responsible for all of the actions of the Goon Squad because he should have been doing his job and he should have been monitoring his department,” the victims' attorney Malik Shabazz said after Wednesday’s proceedings. Shabazz added his clients would have preferred more time for the defendants, but said the sentences were “significant.”
“These are the longest and strongest sentences in United States history for any police officers,” he noted.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of second degree murder for kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for more than 11 minutes during an arrest in 2020, was subsequently sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
In a statement Wednesday, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch praised the multiagency investigation and prosecution and expressed optimism the sentences could help citizens of Rankin County regain confidence in their law enforcement organizations.
“The actions of these six men did grave harm to these two victims, Michael Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, and violated the trust of all the citizens they swore to protect,” Fitch said. “These former officers also violated the trust of the other men and women who honorably wear the uniform — every one of whom will feel the repercussions of the mistrust they sowed between law enforcement and the people. These criminal acts make a difficult job even harder and far more dangerous and it is left to us all to commit ourselves to repairing that damage.”
Separately, Jenkins and Parker filed a lawsuit against the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office in June 2023, seeking damages of $400 million. The case remains pending.
Rankin County’s “Goon Squad” and its torture of Jenkins and Parker drew strong comparison to the Memphis Police Department and its “Scorpion Unit,” which was disbanded after the beating death of Tyre Nichols in January 2023. Similarly, four officers involved in Nichols’ death face federal and state charges, with a federal trial scheduled in August. A fifth officer involved pleaded guilty guilty in November to federal charges of excessive force and obstruction of justice.
This past November, the Justice Department also launched a so-called “pattern and practice” review of the police department in Lexington, Mississippi, seeking to determine whether the agency acted within its constitutional authority when conducting stops, searches and arrests. The investigation remains ongoing.
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