Guilty pleas in torture of 2 black men

6 white former officers in Mississippi admit attacks over two hours in house in January

Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers pleaded guilty to all charges against them in state court Monday related to the torture of two black men in January for two hours. All six had already admitted their guilt in federal court.

Prosecutors say the officers, who are all white, nicknamed themselves the "Goon Squad" because of their willingness to use excessive force and to cover up their maleficence, including the attack that ended with one victim, Michael Corey Jenkins, shot in the mouth.

The sheriff whose deputies committed the crimes called it the worst case of police brutality he had ever seen.

The six agreed to sentences recommended by state prosecutors ranging from five to 30 years, although the judge isn't bound by that. Time served for the state convictions will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences they will receive in November.

Their conspiracy unraveled after one officer told the sheriff he had lied, leading to confessions from the others.

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.

They will face federal sentencing on Nov 3.

The former officers pleaded guilty Aug 3 to federal charges in the case, in which US prosecutors said they kicked down the door of a home in Braxton, Mississippi, where the black men were living and assaulted them for two hours.

On Jan 24, the officers forcefully entered a house without a warrant and handcuffed and assaulted Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects.

At the hearing Monday, the prosecution said the now former officers kicked in the doors of the victims' home and immediately began a 90-minute torture session during which they told the men to "stop taking advantage of a white woman who lived there", the prosecutor said.

The officers mocked the two men with racial slurs throughout the ordeal, repeatedly shocked them with electricity volts via tasers, assaulted them with a vibrator, poured chocolate and syrup over their faces and then devised a cover-up after a game of Russian roulette went bad, and one of the victims was shot in the mouth, according to the prosecution.

The six officers schemed to plant drugs and a gun on one of the men and concocted a story that Jenkins was shot because he resisted and went for an officer's gun, justifying the shooting, prosecutors said. Their conspiracy unraveled after one officer told the sheriff he had lied, leading to confessions from the others.

"It's a long time coming," Parker, one of the victims, said on the courthouse steps. "We're not sitting here fighting for nothing. We're fighting for all. Justice was served."

The former police officers include five former Rankin County deputy sheriffs — Brett McAlpin, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke — and a police officer from the city of Richland, Joshua Hartfield.

Elward admitted he shoved a gun into Jenkins's mouth and pulled the trigger in a "mock execution" that went awry.

The Justice Department launched a civil rights probe into the case in February.

An attorney for the victims confirmed after court that the men received death threats from residents and haven't been living in Mississippi.

Jenkins and Parker were targeted because a white neighbor complained that two black men were staying at the home with a white woman, court documents show.

Parker was a childhood friend of the homeowner, Kristi Walley. She has been paralyzed since she was 15, and Parker was helping care for her.

Jenkins still has difficulty speaking because of his injuries. The gunshot lacerated his tongue and broke his jaw before exiting his neck.

"As far as justice, I knew we were going to get it," Jenkins said. "But I thought it was maybe going to take longer."

Agencies contributed to this story.