Former Mississippi deputy gets more than 27 years in prison for racist torture of 2 Black men
The Peninsula
Jackson, Mississippi:A fifth former sheriff s deputy in Mississippi was sentenced Thursday to more than 27 years in prison for breaking into a home wi...
Jackson, Mississippi: A fifth former sheriff’s deputy in Mississippi was sentenced Thursday to more than 27 years in prison for breaking into a home with a group of law enforcement officers as they tortured two Black men, an act the judge called "egregious and despicable.”
Former deputy Brett McAlpin, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee after pleading guilty to the attack, which involved beatings, repeated uses of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth. The sixth and final member of the group, 32-year-old former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield, is set to be sentenced Thursday afternoon.
McAlpin on Thursday wore a jumpsuit turned inside out to conceal the name of the jail where he is detained, and he nodded to his family in the courtroom. He offered an apology before the judge sentenced him.
"This was all wrong, very wrong. It’s not how people should treat each other and even more so, it’s not how law enforcement should treat people,” said McAlpin, who did not look at the victims as he spoke. "I’m really sorry for being a part of something that made law enforcement look so bad.”
Lee sentenced Christian Dedmon, 29, to 40 years and Daniel Opdyke, 28, to 17.5 years on Wednesday. He gave about 20 years to Hunter Elward, 31, and 17.5 years to Jeffrey Middleton, 46, on Tuesday. All but Hartfield served with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office outside Mississippi’s capital city, where some called themselves "The Goon Squad.”
