Six Former Police Officers Plead Guilty To Torturing, Framing Two Black Men

Six former Mississippi police officers pleaded guilty Monday to state charges involving the torture of two Black men in January 2023.

Brett McAlpin, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and Joshua Hartfield have plead guilty to assault, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the racially motivated torture of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker following a warrantless raid on a home in Rankin County, outside of Jackson, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

BREAKING: Six white former Mississippi law officers pleaded guilty to state charges on Monday for torturing two Black men in a racist assault. All six had recently admitted their guilt in a connected federal civil rights case. https://t.co/48I45dusBx

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 14, 2023

The officers, known collectively by some as the “Goon Squad,” entered a home in the suburb of Rankin County after receiving a report from a neighbor that two black men were staying with a white woman there, the outlet reported. The woman, Kristi Walley, was a childhood friend of Parker’s and has been paralyzed since the age of 15. Walley, who was at the hospital at the time of the assault, called Parker a “blessing” noting that as she lived alone, he would often stop by to help her, The AP reported.

After entering the home without a warrant, the officers handcuffed and assaulted Jenkins and Parker, using a sex toy and stun guns in a torture session that spanned 90 minutes. During that time, the officers mocked them with racial slurs and told them to go back to “their side” of the Pearl River. After Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth in a “mock execution that went awry,” the officers devised a plan to plant evidence rather than provide medical aid, according to another report by The AP. (RELATED: County Officials Allegedly Advocated Killing Reporter, Lynching Black People)

“They became the criminals they swore to protect us from. Now, they’ll be treated as the criminals they are,” U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca said during their earlier federal civil rights case over the incident, according to The AP.

While sentencing won’t be carried out until November, the six former officers agreed to sentences recommended by state prosecutors ranging from five to 30 years. State conviction sentencing will run concurrently with the federal sentences they’ll also receive in November, which are expected to be of longer duration, the outlet stated.

“I enjoyed the view of seeing the walk of shame. Head down, the disgust everybody felt for them and that they feel for themselves,” Parker said of the former officers at the hearing. “I hope this is a lesson to everybody out there: Justice will be served,” he continued, The AP reported.

Jenkins, who still has difficulty speaking after the gunshot wound he sustained in the assault, told The AP he knew they would get justice one day, but he thought it would take longer.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey celebrated the guilty pleas of his former officers, stating that it showed the system of “checks and balances is effective.”

“An unbiased and impartial investigation into these former officers uncovered their criminal actions,” Bailey continued.

Trent Walker, an attorney for Parker and Jenkins, indicated that he hoped the Rankin County Police Department would continue their investigation into The Goon Squad in an effort to find other allegations of abuse and torture that might exist against these officers, The AP reported.