A fourth former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in federal prison for his part in the racist torture of two Black men by a group of white officers who called themselves the “Goon Squad.”
Christian Dedmon, 29, did not look at the victims as he apologized and said he’d never forgive himself for the pain he caused.
All six former officers charged in the case pleaded guilty last year, admitting that they subjected Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racist torture in January 2023 after a neighbor complained the men were staying in a home with a white woman. Prosecutors said Dedmon slapped the men with a sex toy and threatened to brutalize them with it.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee said Wednesday that Dedmon carried out the most “shocking, brutal and cruel attacks imaginable” against Jenkins and Parker and against a white man during a traffic stop weeks earlier.
Jenkins, who still has trouble speaking because of his injuries, said in a statement read by his lawyer that Dedmon’s actions were the most depraved of any of those who attacked him.
“Deputy Dedmon is the worst example of a police officer in the United States,” Jenkins said. “Deputy Dedmon was the most aggressive, sickest and the most wicked.”
Hours before Dedmon’s sentencing, former Officer Daniel Opdyke, 28, cried profusely as he spoke before the judge announced his sentence of 17.5 years. Turning to look at the two victims, Opdyke said isolation behind bars has given him time to reflect on “how I transformed into the monster I became that night.”
“The weight of my actions and the harm I’ve caused will haunt me every day,” Opdyke told them. “I wish I could take away your suffering.”
Parker rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes, then stood and left the courtroom before Opdyke finished speaking. Jenkins said he was “broken” and left “ashamed” by the cruel acts inflicted upon him.
The judge said Opdyke might not have been fully aware of what being a member of the Goon Squad entailed when Lieutenant Jeffrey Middleton asked him to join, but he did know it involved using excessive force.
“You were not a passive observer,” Lee said. “You actively participated in that brutal attack.”
All six former officers pleaded guilty last year of breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing the Black men with a stun gun, a sex toy and other objects.
On Tuesday, Lee gave a nearly 20-year prison sentence to Hunter Elward, 31, and a 17.5-year sentence to Middleton, 46, calling their actions “egregious and despicable.” They, like Opdyke and Dedmon, worked as Rankin County sheriff’s deputies during the attack.
Another former deputy, Brett McAlpin, 53, and a former Richland police officer, Joshua Hartfield, 32, are set for sentencing Thursday.
Last March, months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August, an investigation by The Associated Press linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries.
The former officers stuck to their cover story for months until finally admitting that they tortured Michael Corey Jenkins and Parker. Elward admitted to shoving a gun into Jenkins’ mouth and firing it in a “mock execution” that went awry.
After Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, lacerating his tongue and breaking his jaw, the officers devised a cover-up that included planting drugs and a gun. False charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months.
