Final 2 former Mississippi officers in racially charged ‘Goon Squad’ case to be sentenced
CNN
Former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield and former Rankin County deputy Brett McAlpin, two of six Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty in the torture of two Black men in 2023, will be sentenced on Thursday.
Former Rankin County deputy Brett McAlpin and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield, two of six Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty in the torture of two Black men in 2023, will be sentenced on Thursday. The federal hearings in Jackson will cap an emotional three days during which vivid accounts of the horrifying brutality of a self-styled “Goon Squad” of deputies gripped a packed courtroom. Descriptions of a nightmare of racially motivated beatings, torture, sexual assaults and even a mock execution have played out as victims came face-to-face with their tormentors. The rogue former officers face prison terms for what the FBI director described as “atrocious” acts of “pure hell.” Hartfield, who was one of the officers who tased the two men while they were handcuffed, also tried to dispose of evidence in the case and McAlpin beat one of the men with a piece of wood and threatened to kill other officers if they told the truth about what happened, prosecutors said. A judge on Wednesday imposed the harshest sentence so far – 40 years in prison – on former Rankin County sheriff’s deputy Christian Dedmon, saying he committed the most “shocking, brutal and cruel acts imaginable.” Another former deputy, Daniel Opdyke, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison earlier Wednesday.
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