The last two Mississippi law enforcement officers who were part of the “Goon Squad” who tortured two black men have been sentenced to 27 and 10 years in prison, respectively.
Brett McAlpin, 53, and Joshua Hartfield, 32, pleaded guilty last year to breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing two black men with a stun gun, a sex toy and other objects in January 2023.
McAlpin, a former Rankin County sheriff’s deputy, apologized to victims Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker before U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced him Thursday to 27 years in prison.
While Hartfield, who served as a Richland police officer and attempted to destroy evidence of torture, was sentenced to serve nearly 10 years in prison.
They are part of a group of six former law enforcement officers who admitted to subjecting Jenkins and Parker to numerous acts of racist torture. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey called the crimes committed by his deputies the worst case of police brutality he has ever seen.
The last two former law enforcement officers, Brett McAlpin (left) and Joshua Hartfield (right), who were part of the “Goon Squad” that racially tortured two black men, were sentenced to 27 years, respectively and 10 years in prison.
Michael Corey Jenkins (left) and Eddie Terrell Parker (right) stand alongside lead attorney Malik Shabazz as they ask a federal judge Monday (March 18) to impose the harshest possible penalties on the officers .
The officers charged in the assault of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker were (top left to right) Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton and Christian Dedmon. (Bottom, left to right) Hunter Elward, Daniel Opdyke, Joshua Hartfield
McAlpin wore a jumpsuit turned inside out to hide the name of the prison where he is being held until sentencing.
“It was all wrong, very wrong. This is not the way people should treat each other and, more importantly, it is not the way law enforcement should treat people,” he told the court .
“I am truly sorry to be part of something that has made law enforcement look so bad.”
McAlpin was the fourth-highest ranking officer in the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, a probation officer testified in court.
Parker told investigators that McAlpin, who was off-duty and not wearing a uniform during the attack, acted like a “mobster” as he instructed officers to do throughout the evening.
In a statement read Thursday by his lawyer, Jenkins said he “felt like a slave” and was “left to die like a dog.”
“If those in charge of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office can participate in this kind of torture, God help us all. And God help Rankin County,” Jenkins said.
This follows the sentencing on Wednesday of Christian Dedmon, 29, to 40 years in prison – the harshest sentence – for his role in the racist torture.
Dedmon, the former Rankin County sheriff’s deputy, didn’t look at the victims during his sentencing, apologized and said he would never forgive himself for the pain he caused.
Judge Lee said Dedmon carried out the most “shocking, brutal and cruel attacks imaginable” against victims Jenkins and Parker as well as white man Alan Schmidt during a traffic stop a few weeks earlier.
Jenkins, who still has difficulty speaking due to his injuries, said in a statement read by his attorney that Dedmon’s actions were the most depraved of all those who attacked him.
“Deputy Dedmon is the worst example of a police officer in America,” he said. “Deputy Dedmon was the most aggressive, sickest and meanest.”
Hours before Dedmon’s sentencing, former officer Daniel Opdyke, 28, cried profusely as he spoke in court before the judge announced his 17 1/2-year sentence.
Turning to the two victims, Opdyke said his isolation behind bars gave him time to reflect on “how I turned into the monster I became that night.”
“The weight of my actions and the harm I have caused will haunt me every day,” Opdyke told them. “I wish I could take away your pain.”
At a news conference Monday, Jenkins (pictured) and Parker said they continue to suffer because of what they endured.
Parker listens as his legal team calls out a federal judge during a news conference Monday
Parker rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes, then stood up and left the courtroom before Opdyke finished speaking.
Jenkins said he was “broken” and “ashamed” by the cruel acts inflicted on him.
Former Rankin deputy Hunter Elward, 31, was sentenced Tuesday to 19 1/2 years in prison, while Jeffrey Middleton, 46, was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison.
The judge said Opdyke may not have been fully aware of what being a member of the Goon Squad entailed when Lt. Jeffrey Middleton asked him to join, but he knew it involved recourse to excessive force.
“You were not a passive observer,” Lee said. “You actively participated in this brutal attack. »
The two black men who were subjected to torture, one of whom was shot in the mouth during a mock execution by a group of cops known as “The Goon Squad,” had previously declared that they wanted their executioners to be punished to the full extent of their torturers. the law.
The former cops admitted in August to subjecting Jenkins and Parker to numerous acts of violent and racially motivated torture.
Prompted by a neighbor’s complaint in January 2023 that Jenkins and Parker were staying at a home with a white woman, the group of six broke in without a warrant and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and d other objects.
After a mock execution went wrong when Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they engineered a cover-up that included planting drugs and a gun.
Elward was also accused in a separate incident of beating a mentally ill Black man to death in 2021.
They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstruction of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharging a firearm pursuant to a crime of violence and of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department initially supported the deputies’ false accusations, which pitted Jenkins and Parker against each other for months.
Christian Dedmon, 29, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison for his role in the racist torture.
Hunter Elward, a former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, who imposed a sentence of 241 months in prison.
Daniel Opdyke, 28, was sentenced to nearly 18 years in prison for his role in the racist torture of two black men by a group of white officers who called themselves the “Goon Squad.”
Jeffrey Middleton, 46, was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison.
“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County deputies,” Malik Shabazz said in a statement.
“A message must be sent to law enforcement in Mississippi and across America,” he said, that such criminal conduct “will result in the harshest consequences.”
At a news conference Monday, Jenkins and Parker said they continue to suffer because of what they endured.
“It’s been very difficult for me, for us,” Jenkins said. “We hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
Shabazz said the false charges against the victims were not dropped until June. That’s when federal and state investigators began closing in on the deputies and one of them began speaking.
They were fired shortly afterward, and prosecutors announced the federal charges in August.
Prosecutors say some of the officers nicknamed themselves “Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force and cover up the attacks.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey called the crimes committed by his deputies the worst case of police brutality he has ever seen.
For months, Bailey said little about the episode. After the officers pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said the officers had gone rogue and promised to change departments.
Jenkins and Parker called for his resignation and filed a $400 million civil suit against the department.
“I relive this every day,” Parker said. “Every time I turn on the TV. Every time I call, every time I’m on social media, people tell my story.