Final Two Members of Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ Set for Sentencing

On Thursday, March 21, the last two members of the Mississippi “Goon Squad” were given prison sentences in federal court after pleading guilty to numerous state and federal charges for torturing two Black men. Former Rankin County Deputy, Brett McAlpin, was sentenced to over 27 years in prison while ex-Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield was given a 10-year sentence. These two were the final sentencings of the six former law enforcement officers involved in the crime.

The violence against the two victims, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, began on January 24, 2023, when the group of officers burst into a Rankin County home without a warrant. The victims were assaulted with a variety of objects and were subjected to numerous acts of racially motivated torture. In an act of cover-up, the officers then planted drugs and a gun, leading to false charges against Jenkins and Parker that stood for several months.

The sentencing of the rest of the so-called “Goon Squad” took place earlier in the week. On Wednesday, Daniel Opdyke was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison and Christian Dedmon received a 40-year sentence. On Tuesday, Hunter Elward and Jeffrey Middleton were sentenced to approximately 20 years and 17.5 years in prison respectively.

While the public case has come to a close, Jenkins and Parker have filed a civil lawsuit against the department, calling for Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey’s resignation. Bailey, under whose leadership the crimes were committed, had previously claimed that the officers had gone rogue and vowed to reform the department. His post-sentencing statement promised a commitment to the improvement of the county and the department, striving to make the community safer for everybody.

Despite the severe prison sentences, the case has highlighted systemic failings in the county’s law enforcement. The “Goon Squad” instance has been linked to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019, two of which resulted in death. This emphasizes that the issue did not start nor end with these individual officers, but is deeply entrenched in a culture of corruption, a fact that attorneys for several deputies have acknowledged. The victims and their attorneys had previously called for the strictest possible penalties at their sentencing, emphasizing the severity of the racially-motivated violence they experienced.