Ex-deputy gets 20-year sentence in racist torture of Black men
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT/Gray News) - A former member of a Mississippi “Goon Squad” will spend 20 years and a month in federal prison.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced Hunter Elward to the maximum allowed under federal law, calling the former deputy’s actions “despicable.”
“I don’t think any commentary is necessary because it’s so apparent the egregious and despicable nature of the crimes… and the [impact] the conduct has had on the victims, that a sentence at the top of the guidelines is more than justified, is what the defendant deserves, what the victim deserves and the community deserves,” he said.
“Law enforcement officers are charged to serve and protect the safety and wellbeing of all citizens. Despite the horrendous actions of the defendants in this case, I remain convinced the vast majority of those in the law enforcement community take that commitment seriously.”
Elward, who pleaded guilty last year to 12 felony counts, including 11 counts in connection to the torture of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Parker on the night of Jan. 24, 2023, and one count in connection with the torture of another victim named Alan Schmidt on the night of Dec. 24, 2022.
Lee told Elward the sentence would be enforced after he completes his time on state charges. Elward also is to help pay $79,500 in restitution to Parker and Jenkins and is to submit to three years of supervised probation upon his release.
A second “Goon Squad” member is expected to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon. Court has been recessed until 1 p.m.
Attorneys for the two men who were tortured by six Rankin County law enforcement officers were seeking the stiffest sentences possible, they told WLBT.
“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County deputies,” said attorney Malik Shabazz. “We are advocating for the stiffest of sentences for the defendants.”
“A message must be sent to police in Mississippi and all over America, that level of criminal conduct will be met with the harshest of consequences.”
In January 2023, the group of six burst into a Rankin County home without a warrant and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects. Elward admitted to shoving a gun into Jenkins’ mouth and firing in a “mock execution” that went awry, the Associated Press reported.
The terror began on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence.
A white person phoned Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”
Copyright 2024 WLBT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
