Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who had already been sentenced to federal prison for attacking two Black men were sentenced in state court on Wednesday. The white former officers had pleaded guilty to a long list of charges for torturing Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker. The men received state sentences that were shorter than their federal prison terms, with time served running concurrently. The case drew outrage from top law enforcement officials, with Attorney General Merrick Garland calling it a “heinous attack on citizens they had sworn an oath to protect.”
The first defendant sentenced was Brett McAlpin, the former fourth highest-ranking officer in the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office. The defendants also included five former sheriff’s deputies and a former police officer. All six pleaded guilty to state charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to hinder prosecution. The charges stemmed from a horrific attack on Jenkins and Parker that included beatings, stun gun use, and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth. The terror was initiated by a racist call for extrajudicial violence that led to the officers breaking into the home without a warrant.
Defense attorneys for the defendants argued that their clients became ensnared in a culture of corruption encouraged by leaders in the sheriff’s office. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey fired the officers last June, stating they had gone rogue. However, Jenkins and Parker have called for Bailey’s resignation and filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department. The federal sentencing hearings revealed that several of the defendants expressed remorse and apologized to the victims. The men will serve their state sentences in federal penitentiaries.
Attorney Malik Shabazz, representing Jenkins and Parker, emphasized the importance of the state criminal sentencing given Mississippi’s history of racial crimes and police brutality against Blacks. The sentencing hearings represented a test for the state prosecutors and Judge Steve Ratcliff. The case drew comparisons to the state’s history of racist atrocities by individuals in authority. The defendants, who had admitted to obstruction of justice and conspiracy to hinder prosecution, had also been linked to previous violent encounters that resulted in the deaths of two Black men. The officers devised a coverup plan and agreed to plant drugs on Jenkins and Parker.
The only defendant who did not receive a federal prison term at the top of the sentencing guidelines was Joshua Hartfield, who was not part of the sheriff’s department and “Goon Squad” group. In federal court, the officers admitted to breaking into the home without a warrant and torturing Jenkins and Parker for hours. They made the victims strip naked, shower together, and assaulted them with sex objects while using racial slurs. The officers involved received state sentences in addition to their federal prison terms, with time served concurrently. The case highlights the need for accountability and justice in cases of police brutality and racial crimes.
