The six former Mississippi police officers who assaulted two Black men during a raid have pleaded guilty, the Associated Press reports.
Mississippi’s attorney general’s office announced August 3 that it had filed state charges against the six law enforcement officers, who refer to themselves as “The Goon Squad,” including assault, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.
Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, and Daniel Opdyke, are the five former Rankin County Sheriff’s Department officers listed as well as Joshua Hartfield
, a former Richland police officer, who was off-duty when he participated in the raid.The raid happened January 24, 2023, when the six officers entered a home without a warrant and began to assault Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker using numerous objects, including a sex toy and a stun gun, for more than 90 minutes.
The victims
claimed the deputies handcuffed them, repeatedly used the stun gun, and poured milk over their heads. One of them were shot during a “mock execution” that went wrong. Instead of giving them medical aid, the officers conspired to plant and tamper with evidence.The Justice Department opened an investigation in February 2023 against the deputies and filed civil rights charges against them.
“The defendants in this case tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland
said.The men are scheduled to plead guilty to the state charges on August 14, said deputy state attorney general Mary-Helen Wall, according to NPR.
All former officers will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee in mid-November 2023. Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines. Hartfield faces 80 years and $1.5 million and McAlpin could serve up to 90 years in prison plus a $1.75 million fine.
Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke, who is one of the officers that used a sex toy as his weapon, faces 100 years with a $2 million fine.
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