well in Mississippi two out of the six former deputies are facing sentencing today for torturing two black men last year so far a federal judge sentenced Hunter Elwood to 20 years in prison Jeffrey Middleton will be sentenced this afternoon the rest of the men will follow over the next couple of days now these men pleaded guilty in August to a slate of state and federal charges and prosecutors say that the officers nicknamed themselves the Goon Squad because of their willingness to use excessive
force and not report it NBC News correspondent Antonio Hil joins us now Antonia I mean frankly these charges are disgusting and it's something that unfortunately some people didn't realize were even happening or forgot that this even happened and it's not quite as rare as we think what are the charges specifically you know you're right to point that out because one of the conversations happening in Mississippi right now is that for many black Elders there this feels like a relic of what they we
re hoping was a bygone era something from the 20s 30s 40s 50s in the South that shouldn't be happening today but what happened that night in January of 2023 is that these five former deputies and one police officer entered this home no warrant no evidence that anything was happening there and they proceeded to torture these men for hours using food at one point a sex toy and threatening an execution and that's how one of the men Michael Jenkins ended up being shot in the mouth by one of the offi
cers who is the officer who has been sentenced to 20 years so this is heinous doesn't even really describe how awful all of this is and on top of all of what I just described they then tried to plant evidence guns drugs on these men and it took months for these two victims Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker to be believed and so you know there's relief that we're here now but there's another world in which that actually wouldn't have been the case sick somehow Jenkins and Parker did survive what a
re they saying about these sentencings well they are pushing for the maximum sentencing and and it's not just the two of them it's actually an entire black community in the Jackson area rising up here and saying you really need to send a message now and you know we have 20 years for one officer that officer is facing the most serious charges because of having shot Jenkins in the mouth but they're hoping something very similar is coming for the other five men involved in this and now on top of al
l of that the local da is going to have to review all kinds of cases in association with the goons Squad so think about this you know there's the story of just these six guys but really there is a bigger process here that could take years undoing all the harm that was likely done and how many of those victims were not believed right incredible all right Antonia Hilton thank you so much for your reporting we appreciate it thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the
NBC News app or follow us on social media
Comments
I think authority figures that take an oath should have harsher sentences than the general public.
Only 20 yrs for shooting someone in the mouth, let that sink in! Unbelievable
20 years is ridiculous for what they did. If this had been done to cops The perpetrators would have received life without parole.
Twenty years for all of the crimes that they committed on those two men that night??? Disgusting!!!
Why not life? Torture under the color of law demands more than 20 years.
They should be sentenced to the maximum because they were police.
Correction, they were sentenced for what they did to these poor black guys, but this department had been torturing many residents for over 20yrs, black, white and brown civilians. Question, do any of the people they arrested and had convicted get a retrial, as seems to me, many victims would've pleaded guilty under duress of torture and extreme human rights violations.
Serve the full 20 years. No early parole for good behavior. That’s one problem with our judicial system.
What would the sentence be if 5 black males tortured a police officer like this? HMMM.
They went in the home because they were told that Black men were living with a white woman. That was mentioned in this report.
"Entire black community" I'm pretty sure the ENTIRE community wants justice.
All the victims need to come forward. Maybe a class action lawsuit. Every single case handled by these officers need to be re-visited.
They won’t last in Prison
These guilty former cops should be in jail for life.
A big part of the reason why they pled guilty to these crimes is that they'll get to serve their sentence in the federal prison system. The feds will ship them off to some prison in the Pacific northwest, or one of their protective custody prisons where they send dirty cops and snitches. Personally, I would have much preferred that serve their sentence in a Mississippi State penitentiary. I guarantee you the time wouldn't be nearly as easy as it'll be in the feds.
So this is the so called most serious charge and he only got 20 years? This is disgusting and I can't imagine how little time the others will get.
I wonder how many other people were tortured by these cops. I wonder how many other crimes these cops have gotten away with.
It’s a miracle that these men received some sort of justice. There are hundreds if not 1000s of people who have endured harm by officers whose truths and stories will never come to light.
Ive seen teenage black boys sentenced harsher for far less!!!
The folks didn't care this was happening and the police almost got away with the crimes.