Last Goon Squad member, ex-police officer gets shortest sentence in abuse of two Black men

Joshua Hartfield, the last person connected to the 'Goon Squad' and a former Richland police officer, was sentenced Thursday afternoon to 10 years in federal prison for involvement in the abuse and torture of two Black men.

U.S. District Court Judge Tom Lee handed down this sentence after five minutes of deliberating outside the presence of the courtroom.

This was the first time in the last five sentencings that the judge did not impose a sentence right away in connection to a January 2023 incident.

Lee said he was "conflicted" on whether to impose a sentence at the top of the guidelines of 151 months for Hartfield. Lee stated that after taking into consideration all of the facts and character letters he has received about Hartfield, he looks at Hartfield "in a different light."

"You weren't a member of the Goon Squad, the Rankin County department nor the text thread. You had no knowledge of what was planned or likely to occur at the home. Christian Dedmon told you it would be a knock and talk. It's clear to me that out of everyone involved that you are the least involved and least culpable," Lee said to the courtroom. "You've acknowledged and admitted you participated. You don't have a history or demonstrated history of excessive force, and you seemed to have landed in something you didn't anticipate."

Hartfield had discarded hard drive footage of the incident by throwing the hard drive into a creek.

"You didn't just fail to intervene, but you actively participated. And for that you deserve to be punished," Lee added.

On Jan. 24, 2023, six former 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 Hartfield from the city of Richland.

On Tuesday, 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.

And McAlpin, who was the highest-ranking deputy on the scene of the incident, was sentenced Thursday morning to 27.25 years in 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.

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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.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Goon Squad Mississippi: Joshua Hartfield sentenced to 10 years