Source: Baris-Ozer / Getty
Today is a good day.
BOSSIP has been reporting on this story since March of 2023 and almost one year later to the day, justice is being served. We can only pray that it has been sitting in the freezer on a rusty tray. Two Black men, 32-year-old Michael Corey Jenkins and his 25-year-old friend Eddie Terrell Parker, were victimized in ways that will trigger and traumatize them for the rest of their days.
A group of five white Mississippi Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies and a Richland police officer, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Christian Dedmon, Daniel Opdyke, Jeffrey Middleton and Joshua Hartfield, dubiously dubbed “The Goon Squad” carried out a sick and disturbing attack against Jenkins and Parker on Jan. 24, 2023. For 90 minutes, these pigs beat, tasered, sexually assaulted and shot the two men after a white man called McAlpin to report that two Black men were living in an apartment with a white woman. To be clear, this white man did not call “911”, he called McAlpin as he knew full well what he and his henchmen would do next.
Earlier this year, BOSSIP also reported on the protests and calls for resignation by Rankin County residents and activists who were frustrated over the constant sentencing delays. That brings us to this good day. According to an AP article, all six former sheriff’s deputies will be sentenced to prison this week!
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will begin sentencing two men per day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Previously, all six men pleaded guilty to numerous charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
“On the federal charges, Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines,” AP Notes. “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,” according to AP.
We’re thrilled to see them rot in jail before they rot in Hell. We hope their experience is as terrifying and painful as the 20 years of abuse that they inflicted on Black bodies in Mississippi.
