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All six "Goon Squad" officers now sentenced in Mississippi torture case [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2024-03-22

All six members of a police "Goon Squad" which terrorized and assaulted two black men in their home while subjecting them to hours of racial abuse have now been sentenced. Rankin County Sheriff's deputy Brett McAlpin, 53, received a sentence of 27 years and Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield, 32, received a 10-year sentence. The other deputies who pleaded guilty and sentenced this week were Christian Dedmon to 40 years, Hunter Elward to more than 20 years, and Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke each to 17.5 years in prison.

"The depravity of the crimes committed by these defendants cannot be overstated, and they will now spend between 10 and 40 years in prison for their heinous attack on citizens they had sworn to protect," said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. "These defendants kicked in the door of a home where two Black men were residing, handcuffed and arrested them without probable cause, called them racial slurs, and punched, kicked, tased, and assaulted them. After one of the defendants fired his gun in the mouth of one of the victims, breaking his jaw, the defendants gathered outside to come up with a cover story as the victim lay bleeding on the floor. Officers who violate constitutional rights will be held accountable by the Justice Department for their crimes that harm individual victims and betray the trust of entire communities. I am grateful to the Department's Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, the FBI Jackson Field Office, and our state partners for their outstanding work bringing these defendants to justice."

It doesn't seem likely these men were the only guys in this Goon Squad or that the attacks they were charged for were the only ones, does it?

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