Fourth ex-deputy gets 40 years for racist torture of 2 Black men
JACKSON, Miss. — A fourth former Mississippi sheriff's deputy was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in federal prison for his part in the racist torture of two Black men by a group of white officers who called themselves the "Goon Squad.”
Christian Dedmon, 29, did not look at the victims as he apologized and said he'd never forgive himself for the pain he caused.
All six former officers charged in the torture pleaded guilty last year, admitting that they subjected Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racist torture in January 2023 after a neighbor complained that the men were staying in a home with a white woman. Prosecutors said
Dedmon slapped the men with a sex toy and threatened to brutalize them with it.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee said Wednesday that Dedmon carried out the most “shocking, brutal and cruel attacks imaginable" against Jenkins and Parker and against a white man during a traffic stop weeks earlier.
Jenkins, who still has trouble speaking due to his injuries, said in a statement read by his lawyer that Dedmon's actions were the most depraved of any of those who attacked him.
“Deputy Dedmon is the worst example of a police officer in the United States,” Jenkins said
Hours before Dedmon's sentencing, former officer Daniel Opdyke, 28, was sentenced to 17.5 years.
All six former officers pleaded guilty last year to breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing the Black men with a stun gun, a sex toy and other objects.
On Tuesday, Lee gave a nearly 20-year prison sentence to Hunter Elward, 31, and a 17.5-year sentence to Middleton, 46, calling their actions “egregious and despicable.” They, like Opdyke and Dedmon, worked as Rankin County sheriff's deputies during the attack.
Another former deputy, Brett Mcalpin, 53, and a former Richland police officer, Joshua Hartfield, 32, were set for sentencing later Thursday.