Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ officers jailed for torturing two black men
Two former Mississippi sheriff’s deputies who were members of a group calling itself “the Goon Squad” have been handed lengthy prison sentences for their part in torturing two black men.
Hunter Elward, 31, was jailed for 20 years, and Jeffrey Middleton, 46, was sentenced to 17-and-a-half years on Tuesday during back-to-back proceedings at a federal court in Jackson, Mississippi, according to the US Justice Department.
They were two of six officers who burst into a house in Braxton, Mississippi, without a search warrant and assaulted Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects.
(From top left) Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and Joshua Hartfield. File pic: AP
It followed a complaint to the sheriff’s office from a white neighbour that two black men were staying with a white woman at the address and that they had seen “suspicious behaviour”.
The victims were held captive and handcuffed during a two-hour ordeal which ended with Mr Jenkins being shot in the mouth. He suffered a lacerated tongue and broken jaw.
Michael Corey Jenkins outside the federal courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi. Pic: AP
He was shot in the mouth. Pic: AP
Once inside the house, they handcuffed Mr Jenkins and his friend Mr Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. They then forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess.
They mocked the victims with racial slurs and shocked them with stun guns.
One of the sheriff’s deputies, Christian Dedmon, assaulted them with a sex toy.
After Elward shot Mr Jenkins in the mouth in a “mock execution” that went wrong when he pulled the trigger, the officers devised a cover-up.
This included destroying surveillance video, an attempt to burn the victims’ clothes, and planting drugs and a gun.
False charges stood against the two victims for months.
Eddie Terrell Parker was one of the victims of the attack. Pic: AP
The officers warned them to “stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River”, court documents stated, referencing an area with higher concentrations of black residents.
The former officers, all of them white, referred to themselves as “the Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force, according to papers filed in the case.
In a statement on Tuesday, attorney general Merrick Garland condemned the “heinous attack on citizens they had sworn an oath to protect”.
Before sentencing Elward and Middleton, US district judge Tom Lee called their actions “egregious and despicable”.
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Elward and Middleton pleaded guilty with the other four former law enforcement officers last summer to multiple felony offences, including civil rights conspiracy, deprivation of rights under colour of law, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice.
Daniel Opdyke, 28, and Dedmon, 29, are set to appear separately before Judge Lee on Wednesday for sentencing.
Brett McAlpin, 53, and a former Richland police officer, Joshua Hartfield, 32, are due to be sentenced on Thursday.
The guilty pleas entered in a federal court in August were part of a larger agreement which included guilty pleas to state charges. A date has not yet been set for the sentencing in the state case.
The defendants are to serve their federal and state sentences concurrently.
Thousands of people gathered in various cities across the US as protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place in all 50 states on Saturday.
Around 1,200 demonstrations were planned in locations including Washington DC, New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida – just miles away from where the US president has this weekend played golf.
The “Hands Off!” protests were against the Trump administration’s handling of government downsizing, human rights and the economy, among other issues.
In Washington DC, protesters streamed on the grass in front of the Washington Monument, where one person carried a banner which read: “Make democracy great again.”
Thousands gathered in Washington DC to rally against various Trump policies. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Another protester took aim at Mr Trump‘s handling of Russia and Ukraine, with a placard that read: “Stop Putin’s puppets from destroying America.”
Tesla boss Mr Musk also featured on many signs due to his role in controversial government cuts as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Demonstrators in NYC. Pic: AP
People marching in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic: Reuters
A rally in Vermont. Pic: The Brattleboro Reformer via AP
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist, said she drove to the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.
“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.
A drone view of the protest at the Utah State Capitol building. Pic Reuters
A protester sports a Handmaid’s Tale costume. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Some at the various protests carried Ukrainian flags, while others sported rainbow attire and waved rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Other protesters wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs.
Thousands marched in New York City’s midtown Manhattan and in Boston, Massachusetts, while hundreds gathered in the sunshine outside the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, and in the rain outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.
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Mr Trump – who shook financial markets with his tariffs announcement this week – spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf before returning to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
People protest in Manhattan. Pic: Reuters
Activists in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Pic: AP
Some four miles from Mar-a-Lago, more than 400 people gathered – and drivers honked their horns in support of protesters who held up signs including one which read: “Markets tank, Trump golfs.”
The White House has said Mr Trump plans to go golfing again on Sunday.
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