Goon Squad member 5th of 6 sentenced over torture of Black men in Mississippi
A fifth former Rankin County deputy, Brett McAlpin, was sentenced Thursday morning to 27.25 years in federal prison for participating in the abuse and torture of two Black men.
This sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Tom Lee.
McAlpin was chief investigator at the time of the January 2023 incident, which made him the highest-ranking deputy at the scene, court testimony revealed.
“His rank provided control over his co-conspirators,” Lee said. “He directed the actions of various people.”
Inside the federal courtroom, defense attorney Aafram Y. Sellers stated McAlpin did not racial taunt Parker nor did McAlpin physical assault Parker.
Prosecutor Christopher Perras countered this claim by describing McAlpin as the “mafia don” of the group who set the assault in motion after he took a phone call from a resident, who reported “suspicious activity.”
Perras stated McAlpin did not need to be extremely hands on in the incident because McAlpin had “a bunch of dirty officers to do his work for him.”
“While the victims were screaming in pain, he was urinating in a closet … to further degrade the occupants of the house,” Perras said.
On Jan. 24, 2023, six former police officers connected to the "Goon Squad" burst into a home without a warrant, then handcuffed and used a stun gun on Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker.
McAlpin and five other officers were involved in the incident. The other former Rankin County Sheriff's deputies were Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke. The sixth former police officer was Joshua Hartfield from the city of Richland.
The judge sentenced Elward to 20 years in federal prison and Middleton, the alleged ringleader, to 17.5 years on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Dedmon was handed the longest sentence of 40 years, while his fellow "Goon Squad" member Opdyke got a 17.5-year sentence.
Hartfield, an ex-Richland police officer, received the shortest sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
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Based on Associated Press reporting, the court records state the officers assaulted the men with a sex object, beat them and used their stun guns repeatedly over a roughly 90-minute period. The episode culminated with one deputy placing a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and firing, which cut his tongue, broke his jaw and exited out of his neck.
The officers did not give him medical attention, instead discussing a “false cover story to cover up their misconduct,” as well as planting and tampering with evidence, the Associated Press reported.
Parker, who spoke for the first time in court Wednesday, said when he saw the officers walk through the door, he saw “the devil.”
“I knew what it was when I saw them walk through the door but that night, I saw the devil come to me, in my face, in my home, where I was supposed to be safe. I was there helping a friend who was paralyzed,” Parker said. “But you know, when you do good that’s when the devil comes. Maybe I was doing too good.”
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Jenkins, via a statement read by his lawyer Malik Shabazz, told the court Wednesday that the incident will be “forever engraved” in his mind and heart.
“Every time I try to take a bite of food, the pain reminds me of what happened that night. I want all of them to remain behind bars and to be off the streets,” Jenkins statement said.
During the sentencing hearing, McAlpin apologized to Jenkins and Parker stating he is sorry for what they have gone through.
“This was all wrong, very wrong. It’s not how people should treat each other much so it’s not how law enforcement should treat people. Michael and Eddie, I hope you and your families can move on and have a better life,” McAlpin said. “I’m sorry. I truly am.”
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Goon Squad Mississippi: Brett McAlpin sentenced to 27 years in prison