Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ deputies get yearslong sentences for racist torture of 2 Black men

— Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker sat on the front row of a packed courtroom Tuesday and watched as a federal judge handed down yearslong sentences to two of the white former Mississippi law enforcement officers who tortured the two Black men last year in a brutal attack that began on the basis of race. McAlpin told Deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves “The Goon Squad.” The group of six burst into a Rankin County home without a warrant and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects. Prosecutors said Middleton told the other officers they had to stay quiet and that he “didn’t have a problem killing somebody.” Last March, months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August, an investigation by The Associated Press linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries. “I am so sorry for what I did.” Parker then stood up and said, “I forgive you.” Elward’s attorney, Joe Hollomon, said his client first witnessed Rankin County deputies turn a blind eye to misconduct in 2017 and that he had been “initiated into a culture of corruption at the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office.” Middleton’s lawyer, Carlos Tanner, urged the judge to give his client a shorter sentence, saying Middleton had committed fewer violent acts. “I know that I’m not their only victim, and I pray for each victim that has crossed paths with the Goon Squad members.” The officers charged with torturing Parker and Jenkins include Elward, Middleton, McAlpin, Dedmon and Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer.