Jackson, Mississippi CNN —
Two White former Mississippi law enforcement officers who were members of a self-styled “Goon Squad” were sentenced by a federal judge Tuesday to prison after admitting to
torturing and abusing two Black men last year – and four other White ex-officers who pleaded guilty in the abuse will be sentenced later this week.
Hunter Elward, a 31-year-old former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy who faced the most serious of the federal charges for shooting one of the victims, was sentenced in federal court in Jackson to 20 years in prison in a highly emotional hearing Tuesday morning. Jeffrey Middleton, a 46-year-old former sheriff’s deputy whom federal prosecutors described as the ringleader of the group, was sentenced to more than 17 and a half years in prison Tuesday afternoon.
Elward and Middleton, along with fellow former Rankin County deputies Brett McAlpin, Christian Dedmon and Daniel Opdyke, as well as former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield,
pleaded guilty in August to federal charges of conspiracy against rights, deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of justice related to the incident.
Details from the January 24, 2023, incident in Braxton, just southeast of Jackson, eventually
came to light after victims Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in June. They
alleged the officers illegally entered the home of a woman whom Parker was helping to take care of; handcuffed, kicked, waterboarded and used Tasers on Jenkins and Parker; and attempted to sexually assault them over nearly two hours before Elward put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and shot him. Many of the claims were later borne out by federal prosecutors in August as the six former officers pleaded guilty.