6 former Mississippi officers, some who called themselves ‘The Goon Squad,' pleaded guilty to state charges for torturing and sexually assaulting two Black me
Their pleas Monday came after the former officers – five of them deputies for the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, the sixth an officer for the Richland Police Department – pleaded guilty this month to federal charges in connection to the same January incident, which the victims have claimed was motivated by their race.
Former deputies Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke and ex-police officer Joshua Hartfield were each charged with conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, according to a news release from the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
Additionally, Dedmon was charged with home invasion and Elward was charged with home invasion and aggravated assault, the release says. McAlpin, Middleton, Opdyke and Hartfield each faced an additional charge of first-degree obstruction of justice.
All six appeared with their attorneys in Rankin County court Monday, shackled at the wrists and wearing prison jumpsuits.
The names of the county jails in which they are being held were covered by duct tape.
The former officers pleaded guilty August 3 to federal charges in the case, in which US prosecutors said the former officers kicked down the door of a home in Braxton, Mississippi, where the Black men were living and assaulted them for two hours.
The officers did not have a warrant, and some “called themselves ‘The Goon Squad’ because of their willingness to use excessive force and not to report it,” according to a federal charging document.