A federal judge on Thursday finished handing down prison terms of about 10 to 40 years to six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing two Black men in an hourslong attack that included beatings, repeated uses of stun guns, and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth. US District Judge Tom Lee called the culprits' actions "egregious and despicable," the AP reports, and gave sentences near the top of federal guidelines to five of the six men who attacked Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.
The exception was for Joshua Hartfield, 32, a former police officer who did not work in a sheriff's department with the others and was not a member of a "Goon Squad." He was the last of the six former officers sentenced over three days this week, months after they all pleaded guilty. Before giving Hartfield a 10-year sentence Thursday, Lee said Hartfield did not have a history of using excessive force and was roped into the brutal episode by one of the former deputies, Christian Dedmon, who already received a 40-year sentence. Lee said, however, that Hartfield failed to intervene in the violence and participated in a cover-up.
Brett McAlpin, the fourth highest-ranking officer in the Rankin County Sheriff's Office, received a sentence of about 27 years on Thursday. McAlpin, 53, nodded to his family in the courtroom and offered an apology before the judge sentenced him. "This was all wrong, very wrong," said McAlpin, who did not look at the victims as he spoke before sentencing, adding, "I'm really sorry for being a part of something that made law enforcement look so bad." Arguing for a lengthy sentence, federal prosecutor Christopher Perras said McAlpin was not technically a member of the Goon Squad but "molded the men into the goons they became."
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Attorneys for several of the deputies said their clients became ensnared in a culture of corruption that was not only permitted, but encouraged by leaders within the sheriff's office. In a statement read by his attorney Thursday, Jenkins said he "felt like a slave" and was "left to die like a dog." He added, "If those who are in charge of the Rankin County Sheriff's Office can participate in these kinds of torture, God help us all. And God help Rankin County," Jenkins said.
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