Crime
Two former ‘Goon Squad’ deputies sentenced to over 37 years in prison for racist torture of black men
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Two former Mississippi sheriff’s deputies have been convicted of participating in the torture of two black men after a neighbor complained that the men were in the home with a white woman.
Hunter Elward and Jeffrey Middleton were sentenced Tuesday by a federal judge in Jackson.
Elward received roughly 20 years in prison and Middleton received greater than 17 years behind bars. Four other former law enforcement officers are scheduled to begin sentencing later this week in the case.
In August, all six former officers pleaded guilty to several federal charges. They pleaded guilty to torturing Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker in January 2023.
Hunter Elward, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee to 241 months in prison. The judge can be expected to sentence 4 other former officers who confessed to torture Jenkins and Parker after a neighbor complained that the men were in the home with a white woman.
Before handing down the sentence, Lee called Elward’s crimes “egregious and despicable” and said that “a sentence at the high end of the guideline range is justified – it is more than justified.” He continued: “The defendant deserves it. This is what the community and the defendant’s victims deserve.”
In January 2023, a six-person group entered a Rankin County home with no warrant and attacked Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other items. Elward admitted to putting a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and firing a shot as part of a “mock execution” that went improper.
The terror began on January 24, 2023, with a racist incitement to extrajudicial violence, when a white person called Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two black men were with a white woman in a house in Braxton. McAlpin told Deputy Christian Dedmon texted a bunch of white deputies who were so willing to use excessive force that they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”
Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup in their faces. They forced them to strip naked and take a shower together to hide the mess. They taunted the victims with racist insults and shocked them with stun guns.
After Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, they hatched a cover-up that included planting drugs and a gun. For months, false allegations were made against Jenkins and Parker. Jenkins suffered a lacerated tongue and a broken jaw.
Last March, months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August, an Associated Press investigation linked some deputies to a minimum of 4 violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two people dead and one with everlasting injuries. damage.
Jenkins is a musician and injuries have prevented him from singing like he used to. He also said he had trouble speaking and eating. Parker said he relives the episode in his nightmares.
The two men who sat in the front row called for “the harshest of sentences”. Their lawyer, Malik Shabazz, said they were too traumatized to speak in court and skim statements on their behalf.
“I am hurt. I am devastated,” Jenkins wrote in his statement. “They tried to take away my manhood. They did unspeakable things to me and the results will last the remainder of my life.
Elward, who was wearing a dark blue jumpsuit with tape covering the name of the power where he’s staying, said before the sentencing that he wouldn’t plead guilty. He turned to address Jenkins and Parker and checked out them directly.
“I don’t desire to get too personal. I see you each night and I can not return and do what’s right,” Elward said. “I’m very sorry for what I did.”
Parker then stood up and said, “I forgive you.”
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Elward’s attorney, Joe Hollomon, said his client first witnessed Rankin County deputies turning a blind eye to misconduct in 2017.
“It has become the new norm, it has become institutional,” Hollomon said. “Hunter was privy to a culture of corruption within the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office.”
During a Tuesday speech on the University of Georgia, FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke concerning the federal investigation into “unspeakable crimes” committed by six former law enforcement officers in Mississippi.
“It is difficult to imagine a more heinous set of civil rights violations than those committed by these guys,” Wray said, according to prepared remarks. “But on the other hand, it’s hard to imagine a more important job than investigating these crimes and seeking justice for the victims.”
Elward was also convicted of participating in an assault on one other person who occurred weeks before the torture of Jenkins and Parker. On Tuesday, prosecutors identified the victim for the primary time as Alan Schmidt and reviewed his statement, which detailed what happened to him on December 4, 2022.
Schmidt said that in a traffic stop that night, Rankin County deputies charged him with possession of stolen property. They dragged him out of the automotive and beat him. Dedmon then forced him to his knees and tried to put his genitals into Schmidt’s mouth while Elward watched.
“I pray every day that I can one day forgive them and hopefully forget the humiliation and evil physical and sexual assault that I experienced,” Schmidt wrote. “I know I’m not their only victim and I pray for every victim that has happened to the members of the Thug Squad.”
The officers accused of torturing Parker and Jenkins are Elward, McAlpin, Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer. They pleaded guilty to quite a few federal and state charges.
According to the federal charges, all former officers face a long time in prison. They also agreed to state court sentences really helpful by the prosecutor, starting from five to 30 years. The time served on separate state-level convictions will run concurrently with potentially longer federal sentences.
Majority-white Rankin County lies east of the state capital, Jackson, and is home to one of the very best percentages of black residents of any major U.S. city.
Officers warned Jenkins and Parker to (*37*) court documents say, referring to an area with the next concentration of black residents.
For months, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, whose deputies committed the crimes, said little concerning the incident. After the officers he pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said officers had gone rogue and promised to change the department. Jenkins and Parker called for his resignation and contributed $400 million civil lawsuit against the college.
Crime
Family of Texas Teen, accused of a deadly stab of another teenager on the track, collected over $ 150,000 via the online fundraiser
The collection of money for a teenager accused of a deadly stabbing of another teenager during a meeting at the Texas track last week has almost USD 200,000.
Launched by the family of Carmelo Anthony, a 17-year-old from Texas, who’s accused of stabbing Austin Metcalf, also 17, during an intensive meeting between them, Dajndo Fundraiser reached USD 160,000 from Monday morning.
According to Anthony’s lawyer, Deric Walpole, his client demands self -defense on this matter. Talking with NBC Dallas-Fort Worth On Friday, other than the prison, wherein Anthony was detained, Walpole said: “I know that my client said it was a self -defense. I have no reason not to believe it, but I have to develop facts, talk to people and find out what is happening before I made some statements about what I think.”
He added: “I have no reason to think that it was not a self -defense at the moment.”
On Wednesday, April 2, around 10 am local time, it’s claimed that Anthony stabbed Metcalf after Metcalf asked to depart a specific area during the rain delay at a sports event at the Kuykeyndall stadium in Frisco, in accordance with the NBC Dalls-Fort value. Anthony, a competitor in a competitive team, apparently sat under the tent of the Metcalf team to avoid rainfall when Metcalf asked him to depart. When Anthony didn’t follow Metcalf in order that he wouldn’t touch him, allegedly Metcalf caught Anthony’s arm, leaning Anthony, using a knife from a backpack to stab Metcalf in his chest from escaping.
Metcalf suffered a stinging wound in his heart and was recognized as deceased at the scene of the incident, despite the attempts to save lots of his twin brother.
“I put my hand on (his chest), tried to stop (bleeding), grabbed his head and looked into his eyes. I just saw his soul. And this also took my soul,” said Twin Hunter Metcalfa Fox News.
Anthony was arrested and accused of killing the first degree, and is currently being detained in the Collin County prison for a bond of USD 1,000,000, which his lawyer is trying to cut back. He hopes to interrogate bonds this week.
Teenager Apparently he said the police“It is not alleged, I did it” that he was lively in self -defense and asked if Metcalf can be tremendous. Anthony’s father said The New York Post That his son was “provoked”.
“He was not an aggressor. He was not the one who started him,” said Andrew Anthony, adding: “Everyone has already adopted their assumptions about my son, but he is not what they make him.”
He explained that his son was a “good child” who works two works and maintains 3.7 GPs.
“I feel sorry for other parents and family, and words cannot explain how both (families) affected this tragedy,” he noted.
The online collection of money causes “false” narratives circulating after the consequence.
“The widespread narrative is false, unfair and harmful. As a family of faith, we are deeply grateful for all your support in this difficult period. Your prayers and help mean more for us than ever,” we read a fundraiser.
Collecting money on Gofundme In the case of family costs and Metcalf’s funeral, they brought 95% of their goal.
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Richmond, Virginia – June 12: photo of George Floyd expected to the statue of confederate general Robert Lee on June 12, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia. Last week, the governor of Virginia Ralph Northam ordered the removal of Lee’s general statue as soon as possible, but court proceedings temporarily stopped these plans. Protests proceed in cities across the country after the death of George Floyd, who died in police detention in Minneapolis on May 25. (Photo eze amos/getty images)
Giving police departments equipment to military class does not reduce crime or increase safety based on two independent research. Studies appear in the course of the ongoing conversation concerning the importance of “rejecting the police” as a method.
IN “Police demilitarization and brutal crime“, Kenneth Lwande, a professor on the University of Michigan, questioned the claim that the military weapon exchange program reduced the crime rate, assaulting police officers and the variety of complaints towards police officers.
Finding problems in previously published data Lwande focused on the information available after ordering the Obama administration from 2015, required to demlate local police agencies. Answering public indignation after exposing the militarized police in Ferguson, Obama’s administration Forbade some Sales of military equipment to the police as a part of the controversial program 1033. Trump’s administration reversed this policy in 2017.
IN interview In the case of ABC, Lwande explained that earlier research found that the transfer of military equipment to police plots served as deterrent. But from his evaluation, evidence does not confirm such conclusions. “It’s just not an accurate record,” said Lwande. “[Prior studies] They clearly suggested that by transferring military police equipment, he would stop criminals from committing crimes. “
Published in the character of human behavior, London magazine, research emphasizes the reaper of Trump’s administration on potentially “unbelievable” data when making decisions about withdrawing restrictions from Obama’s time. After assessing previous research, Lipowde found that publicly published data utilized in previous studies were filled with inaccuracies. Earlier evaluation did not control the equipment that was transferred between agencies, unused or otherwise inoperable. In addition, Lwande did not find any evidence that the demilitarizing law enforcement authorities led to an increase in crime.
Program 1033, managed by the Defense Logistics Agency, is one in every of several ways through which law enforcement authorities acquire military assessment equipment. Established in 1997 as a part of the Act on authorization for national defense, is estimated Program 1033 has transferred over $ 7 billion in military equipment into $ 8,000 across the country. The program was originally created for the forces of “counteracting terrorism”, but later prolonged to cover all of the activities of law enforcement agencies.
Covering with the national uprisings this summer, several members of the Chamber introduced laws to eliminate the 1033 program in June. The Black Lives movement also published Act Breathe Act, a comprehensive legislative proposal, including financing specific politicians and the abolition of the police. Section I of the proposed respiratory act requires the opening of the 1033 program in its entirety.
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