Sentencing resumed in Jackson, Mississippi, for a group of six white former law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to torture and assault of two Black men.
Former Rankin County sheriff’s deputy Christian Dedmon was sentenced to 40 years in prison during a hearing in federal court in Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday for his role in two attacks, including the torture of two Black men, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dedmon received the maximum sentence for the January 2023 torture of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker and for the assault of another man during an incident in December 2022 during a traffic stop. According to federal prosecutors, Dedmon was the organizer of both attacks and as the fourth of six to be sentenced, has received the harshest sentence so far.
“I want to tell them I’m sorry for what they went through, what they are going through,” Dedmon said during the sentencing hearing, per WAPT. “If I [could] take every bit of it back, I promise I would.”
Dedmon and a group of five additional white former law enforcement officers pleaded guilty to a total of 16 felonies related to the racially motivated torture and sexual assault of Jenkins and Parker, as well as a subsequent plan to cover up their crimes.
Malik Shabazz, the lead attorney representing victims Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, in a statement following Dedmon’s sentencing that “history was made today in Mississippi.”
“The 40-year prison sentence given to ‘Goon Squad’ member Christian Dedman by Judge Thomas Lee for the sick and serious crimes committed against our clients Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker made history today,” Shabazz said, referencing the label that the group of officers gave themselves for their willingness to use excessive force. “All of these ‘Goon Squad’ sentences are sending a serious message to all rogue police and other ‘Goon Squads’ all over America, that justice is coming to you.”
Earlier on Wednesday, former Rankin County sheriff’s deputy Daniel Opdyke was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison for his role in the incident.
Opdyke cried during the sentencing, according to WAPT, and said that his time in prison so far has helped him reflect on “how I transformed into the monster I became that night.
