DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus "Goon Squad" Sentenced and More

First, before anyone jumps to conclusions, I do not think any of this represents the vast majority of police officers in our country. We see many articles and reports of officers doing wonderful things and helping people in ways that go far beyond the call of duty. But there are enough incidents such as these that I would hope help people understand why many in our society do not trust the police. Out of that fear they don't always "act the way you think they should" when confronted by police officers. And if these are the actions we find out about, why does it have to get to this level before any attention is brought upon such things? Surely there are other officers in their departments that know the "bad cops" are not conducting themselves the way they should long before it gets to this level. So where is the line drawn when "good cops" who refuse to report the "bad cops" are no longer considered good cops by ignoring the terrible conduct being perpetrated by their fellow officers?

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Fourth deputy from Mississippi "Goon Squad" sentenced for multiple incidents of torture

The fourth of six Mississippi former law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to subjecting two Black men to racially motivated torture in January 2023 was sentenced to decades in prison on Wednesday.

Christian Dedmon, a former Rankin County sheriff's deputy, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in torturing Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, and for a separate incident where he led the torture of a White man, Alan Schmidt, in December 2022.

Dedmon, who did not look at Jenkins and Parker as he spoke, apologized and said he'd never forgive himself for the pain he caused.

Earlier Wednesday, Daniel Opdyke, another former deputy, was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee in a Jackson federal court for his role in torturing Jenkins and Parker. He faced up to 20 years in prison.

In court on Wednesday, Opdyke cried profusely and apologized to Jenkins and Parker, saying that 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 said before his sentence was announced. "I wish I could take away your suffering."

Parker rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes, then stood up and left the courtroom before Opdyke finished speaking.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee said Opdyke may not have been fully aware of what being a member of the Goon Squad entailed when Middleton asked him to join, but he did know it involved using excessive force. "You were not a passive observer, you actively participated in that brutal attack," Lee said.

On Tuesday, two fellow officers were sentenced to years in prison. Former sheriff's deputy Hunter Elward received just over a 20-year sentence, while Jeffrey Middleton, another former deputy and the leader of the "Goon Squad" that abused the two men, was handed a 17.5-year prison sentence.

Two remaining officers, former deputy Brett McAlpin and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield, are scheduled to be sentenced by Lee on Thursday.

In the December incident, Dedmon was one of several Rankin County deputies who pulled over a man identified in court Tuesday as Alan Schmidt. Schmidt was handcuffed, pulled from his vehicle and beaten. Dedmon then fired his gun into the air, forced Schmidt to his knees, and attempted to sexually assault him. Elward, one of the deputies sentenced Tuesday, was present at the time.

During the January 2023 incident, the six officers tortured Jenkins and Parker. The incident began on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence. A White person phoned Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a White woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Dedmon, who texted a group of White deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves "The Goon Squad."

Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. They 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. Dedmon assaulted them with a sex toy.

After Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, they devised a coverup that included planting drugs and a gun. False charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months. Jenkins suffered a lacerated tongue and broken jaw.

In a statement Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned the "heinous attack on citizens they had sworn an oath to protect."

The majority-white Rankin County is just east of the state capital, Jackson, home to one of the highest percentages of Black residents of any major U.S. city.

The officers warned Jenkins and Parker to "stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or 'their side' of the Pearl River," court documents say, referencing an area with higher concentrations of Black residents.

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.

For months, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, whose deputies committed the crimes, said little about the episode. After the officers pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said the officers had gone rogue and promised to change the department. Jenkins and Parker have called for his resignation, and they have filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/goon-s...niel-opdyke-christian-dedmon-sentencing/

Mississippi ex-police officer pleads guilty after making man lick urine off jail floor

A former Mississippi police officer has pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge after authorities say he forced a man to lick his own urine off the floor of a jail cell

JACKSON, Miss. -- A former Mississippi police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal misdemeanor charge after authorities said he forced a man he had arrested to lick urine off the floor of a jail cell.

Michael Christian Green, 26, lost his job as a Pearl Police Department patrol officer in late December, four days after security cameras showed the violent encounter in Pearl, a suburb of the capital city of Jackson.

Green — who has a large cross tattooed on one arm and the word “Blessed” tattooed on the other — stood calmly before a federal magistrate judge Thursday and did not dispute any of the accusations read aloud by a federal prosecutor.

When Judge Andrew Harris asked how Green was pleading on the charge of deprivation of civil rights, he responded: “Guilty, sir.”

Earlier Thursday, Pearl Mayor Jake Windham held a news conference and condemned Green's brutality against a person in detention.

“I don’t understand how you treat someone like that,” Windham said.

Although court documents did not mention race, Green is white and a Pearl spokesperson said the man he arrested is Latino.

A charging document was issued March 4 and unsealed Wednesday. It says Green arrested the man Dec. 23 after a disturbance at a store in Pearl.

Security footage in the police department showed that once the man was in a holding cell, he knocked on the cell door and tried to tell Green that he needed to urinate, according to the court document. After waiting for some time, the man went to the back of the cell and urinated in a corner, the document said.

The man who was arrested is identified in the court document only by his initials, B.E. The security camera footage showed Green telling B.E. that he would beat him with a phone.

“You’re fixin’ to go in there and you’re going to lick that p—— up," Green said, according the court document. "Do you understand me?”

Green took the man back into the cell and told him to get on the ground and “suck it up," then used his phone to take videos of B.E. while the man got on the ground and licked his own urine, the document said. After the man gagged multiple times, Green told him, “don't spit it out,” according to the document.

“Green did not have a government interest or law enforcement purpose in ordering B.E. to lick his urine,” the federal charging document said.

The city of Pearl said in a statement Thursday that officials learned about the “disturbing event” during Christmas weekend and opened an investigation, using an independent attorney. Windham said Green resigned Dec. 27.

“The proper thing to do was to take the gentleman to the restroom and to not do anything of this magnitude and violate his civil rights," Windham said.

A federal prosecutor said the victim was not in court Thursday, although authorities reached out to see if he wanted to attend Green’s hearing.

Green remains free on bond until his May 24 sentencing. He faces up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine. Harris ordered Green to surrender his Mississippi law enforcement certification.

Windham said Green had worked for the Pearl Police Department for about six months after having worked at other law enforcement agencies in the Jackson area.

It's rare for law enforcement officers in Mississippi be charged with brutality, although authorities typically investigate several cases each year of shootings by police. Pearl is in Rankin County, where six white former law enforcement officers — including some who called themselves the “Goon Squad” — pleaded guilty last year to federal charges in a racist assault on two Black men.

Windham said Thursday that the Pearl Police Department handled its own investigation quickly.

“I think there's a stark contrast between the Pearl Police Department in this incident and the Goon Squad,” Windham said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory...r-made-arrested-man-lick-urine-108125962

When your life literally depends on your partner. I can understand how it takes time to change the culture. But enough is enough, bad cops need to be called out on the carpet and drummed out.

The last two members of the "Goon Squad" were sentenced today.....

2 final Mississippi 'Goon Squad' members sentenced to prison in torture and abuse of Black men

The six former Rank County Sheriff’s deputies admitted to subjecting two Black men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, to acts of racist torture.

JACKSON, Miss. — A judge sentenced two former Mississippi sheriff's deputies from a self-described "Goon Squad" to federal prison on Thursday for the torture and abuse of two Black men in a racist attack.

Brett Morris McAlpin, 53, was ordered to serve 327 months, which is more than 27 years.

And Joshua Hartfield, 32, the final former deputy to be sentenced, was ordered to serve 121 months, or about 10 years.

McAlpin and Hartfield are two of thesix former Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies who admitted to subjecting two Black men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, to acts of racist torture.

McAlpin pleaded guilty to multiple charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

McAlpin was brought into the courtroom of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi wearing handcuffs and leg shackles, offering a nod to his family members in attendance.

In January 2023, McAlpin received a call from a white person who complained that Jenkins and Parker were residing with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi.

McAlpin then texted a group that self-described as "The Goon Squad" — a group that the Justice Department said were known "for using excessive force and not reporting it."

The "Goon Squad" consisted of McAlpin, Hartfield, Christian Dedmon, 29, Jeffrey Middleton, 46, Hunter Elward, 31, and Daniel Opdyke, 28.

The group then went to the home without a warrant, The Associated Press reported, and assaulted the two Black men with stun guns, forced them to ingest liquids, punched and kicked them and called them racial slurs.

The Justice Department said the two men were also assaulted with a dildo. Dedmon also fired his gun twice in an effort to intimidate the men, the department said.

Elward removed a bullet from the chamber of his gun and forced the gun into Jenkins' mouth before pulling the trigger. No bullet was fired the first time, but he pulled the trigger a second time and lacerated tongue, broke his jaw and a bullet exited out of his neck, according to the Justice Department.

The judge sentenced Dedmon to 40 years and Opdyke to 17.5 years on Wednesday. He gave nearly 20 years to Elward and 17.5 years to Middleton on Tuesday.

Jenkins’ attorney read a victim statement on his behalf ahead of the sentencing, describing McAlpin as the “highest man in charge.”

“Brett McAlpin said he would pour gasoline on this house and set it on fire,” the statement said. “I felt like a slave.”

Parker read his own victim impact statement, saying that McAlpin thought himself to be "the mob" and asked the judge to sentence him to "years and years" so that McAlpin could think about what he did.

"Sick, sick, sick…seems like I have a little more respect, a little more dignity than the chief investigator if Rankin County," Parker said.

McAlpin was able to address the court and his voice wavered several times as he spoke. Although he apologized to both men for his actions, he stared ahead, never turning back to look at them or their families.

"This was all wrong — very, very wrong," McAlpin said. "This is not how people should treat each other.”

“I hope your families’ can move on and have a better life.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...UpLiy1hEI9fadDZlZJb_h_YMQK4Gvk7hAjy-Uxh0

Well earned sentences.