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6 former Mississippi law officers to be sentenced for torture of 2 Black men

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6 former Mississippi law officers to be sentenced for torture of 2 Black men


JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will sentence two defendants each day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after twice delaying the proceedings. Each faces the potential of decades behind bars.

The former law officers admitted in August to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racially motivated, violent torture. In a January 2023 episode, the group of six burst into a Rankin County home without a warrant and assaulted Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects.

The terror began on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence.

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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 Deputy Christian 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 Eddie Terrell 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.

After a mock execution went awry when Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they devised a coverup that included planting drugs and a gun. False charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months.

Ahead of sentencing, Jenkins and Parker called for the “stiffest of sentences” at a news conference Monday.

“It’s been very hard for me, for us,” Jenkins said. “We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

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Jenkins suffered a lacerated tongue and broken jaw. He still has trouble speaking and eating.

Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing both men, said the result of the sentencing hearings could have national implications.

“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County deputies,” Shabazz said. “A message must be sent to police in Mississippi and all over America, that level of criminal conduct will be met with the harshest of consequences.”

Months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August 2023, 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 officers charged include McAlpin, Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer. They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

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Most of their lawyers did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment Monday. Jason Kirschberg, representing Opdyke, said: “Daniel has accepted responsibility for his actions, and his failures to act. … He has admitted he was wrong and feels deep remorse for the pain he caused the victims.”

On the federal charges, Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines. Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and $1.5 million, McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine.

The former officers agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years in state court, but time served for separate convictions at the state level will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.

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.

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In the gruesome crimes committed by men tasked with enforcing the law, federal prosecutors saw echoes of Mississippi’s dark history, including the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers after a deputy handed them off to the Ku Klux Klan.

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.

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Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.





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Governor: At least 47 homes, 50 roads damaged by Mississippi storms, flooding – SuperTalk Mississippi

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Governor: At least 47 homes, 50 roads damaged by Mississippi storms, flooding – SuperTalk Mississippi


Gov. Tate Reeves has released updated damage assessments following the severe weather and flooding that inundated parts of southern Mississippi last week.

According to Reeves, assessments through the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency are ongoing, and disaster aid is still being distributed through a mix of federal, state, and local agencies, along with nonprofits. But numbers as of Monday morning showed dozens of homes and businesses damaged and even more public roads affected.

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Among the counties with significant impacts are Covington, Forrest, George, Greene, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Perry and Stone. Across those counties and others, at least 47 homes were affected, seven of which were completely destroyed. Nine businesses sustained damaged, six of which are considered major. One farm sustained major damage.

A Harrison County roadway is flooded by the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo by Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via SuperTalk Mississippi News)

50 public roadways were affected, including four that are considered major and four that were completely destroyed. Two bridges sustained major damage, while two public buildings sustained minor damage.

Reeves said two rivers are in the moderate flood stage – Leaf River near McClain and the Pascagoula River at Graham Ferry.

15 other waterways are in the minor flood stage: Big Black River near Bentonia, Biloxi River near Lyman, Chickasawhay River at Enterprise, Chickasawhay River at Leakesville, East Hobolochitto Creek near Caesar, Pascagoula River at Merrill, Pearl River at Jackson, Pearl River near Pearl River, Pearl River near Philadelphia, Pearl River at Rockport, Strong River at D’Lo, Tallahala Creek at Laurel, Tuscolameta Creek at Laurel, West Hobolochitto Creek near McNeill, and Wolf River around Gulfport.

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A sinkhole caused by flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur is seen in Covington County on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Photo courtesy of the Covington County Emergency Management Agency)

Damage reports could have worsened on Monday with additional rounds of severe weather in some parts of the state. The worst of the storms and floods came with the remnants of what was Tropical Storm Arthur late last week and into the weekend.



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Family of 1-year-old killed by police at a Walmart in Mississippi wants video released

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Family of 1-year-old killed by police at a Walmart in Mississippi wants video released


(AP) – A Mississippi family whose 1-year-old child was killed when police fired into a moving vehicle said Monday they want authorities to release video showing whether officers were in danger of being struck when one of them opened fire.

The shooting has sparked outrage in the small city of Senatobia, where some say it’s the latest in a series of troubling encounters between police and Black residents.

Kohen Wiley was riding with his mother and another woman in a Walmart parking lot on June 14 when police responded to a shoplifting call. The family says they were driving away, while the officers say the car was heading toward them.

This undated photo provided by Veronica Roberson in June 2026 shows her grandson, Kohen Wiley, of Senatobia, Miss.(Veronica Roberson | Veronica Roberson via AP)

“I watched my baby take his first breath, and I watched my baby take his last breath,” Vellesiya Wiley said at a news conference Monday.

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The other woman in the car, whose name has not been released, suffered “critical injuries,” according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the inquiry.

Standing alongside Kohen’s parents and grandparents at a local church, civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters Monday that the best way to determine whether the officers were at risk is to publicly release any body camera, dash camera or Walmart security camera video.

“If that is the truth, then show us that,” Crump said. “The longer you delay releasing the video, the more distrustful we become.”

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on what videos investigators have or whether they would be released, agency spokesperson Bailey Martin said Monday.

“This case has been made a top priority,” Martin said in an emailed statement, “and we currently have multiple agents working tirelessly to ensure every aspect of the investigation is thoroughly examined.”

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The agency says the officers weren’t hurt. Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford did not return a phone message seeking comment Monday.

State investigators gave an initial account of the shooting last week, saying that when Senatobia police arrived at the Walmart, they found two women and a child getting into a car and driving away.

“Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene,” the agency statement said.

Kohen’s mother has said the shoplifting call was over a box of diapers that her friend was carrying — and that she believes her friend had paid for the diapers. State investigators declined to comment on those details.

Crump questioned why police didn’t let the car go and take down the license plate number.

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“They were called over a box of diapers and a family now has to bury their baby,” Crump said Monday. “You cannot put those two things next to each other and call it reasonable policing.”

Crump also said an independent autopsy would be performed.

While there’s no question the child was shot by police, he said, details about the angles at which any bullets struck the child could yield clues as to whether the officer fired from in front of the car or off to the side — and therefore whether that officer was in any danger.

Policing expert Ian Adams, who teaches criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, told The Associated Press last week that police should know that “shooting into a moving vehicle is a very bad idea and one to be avoided at almost all costs,” noting the danger to passengers and other bystanders.

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Mississippi Association of Coaches Inducts Six New Members

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Mississippi Association of Coaches Inducts Six New Members


Six new members were inducted into the Mississippi Association Coaches Hall of Fame on Friday.

Five electees and one surprise honorary inductee announced at the evening’s end.

Each says the MAC HOF is a special one and this is the ultimate honor for a coach in Mississippi.

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