JACKSON, Miss. — One of the former law enforcement officers who were sentenced to prison for the brutal assault and torture of two Black men is seeking a shorter sentence.
Brett McAlpin, 53, is serving 27 years in federal prison after pleading guilty last year to breaking into a home without a warrant on Jan. 24, 2023 and assaulting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker. The hours-long beating, which involved white, sheriff’s deputies with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and a police officer known as “The Goon Squad,” included assaulting one of the men with a sex toy and using racial slurs. One of the men was shot in the mouth.
The other former Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies involved in the racist torture of Jenkins and Parker were Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke. The sixth former law enforcement officer was Joshua Hartfield of Richland.
The former law enforcement officers involved in the assault were sentenced to 10 to 40 years. They pleaded guilty in their federal and state cases.
On Friday, McAlpin’s attorney, Theodore Cooperstein, wrote in arguments to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the length of McAlpin’s sentence was “unreasonable” because the former chief investigator waited in outside in his truck while other law enforcement officers assaulted Jenkins and Parker, per the Associated Press.
More on the assault, sentence, and lawsuit.
Blog dedicated to news and viewpoints from Black journalists who support, and inform, communities of color.
Original content, and curated articles, are posted and updated daily.
