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Ex-Mississippi Deputy Seeks Reduced Sentence After Conviction in Torture of Two Black Men

Ex-Mississippi Deputy Seeks Reduced Sentence After Conviction in Torture of Two Black Men

In a case that garnered censure from prominent US law enforcement figures, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, a former deputy from the Mississippi sheriff’s office is requesting a reduced federal prison term for his involvement in the torture of two Black men.

After an hours-long assault that included beatings, repeated use of Tasers, attacks with a sex toy, and one victim being shot in the mouth, six white former police officers, including Brett McAlpin, pled guilty in 2023 for breaking into a home without a warrant.

Sentences ranging from 10 to 40 years were handed down to the officers in March. Second-longest sentenced was McAlpin, a former head investigator for the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department. His term was around 27 years.

In Friday’s arguments submitted to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, McAlpin’s attorney, Theodore Cooperstein, argued that the duration of McAlpin’s sentence was “unreasonable” due to the fact that he remained in his truck as other cops tortured Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.

“Brett was drawn into the scene as events unfolded and went out of control, but he maintained a peripheral distance as the other officers acted,” Cooperstein wrote. “Although Brett failed to stop things he saw and knew were wrong, he did not order, initiate, or partake in violent abuse of the two victims.”

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A white individual called McAlpin on January 24, 2023, to complain that a white woman in the tiny town of Braxton was housing two Black men, according to the prosecution. Deputy Christian Dedmon was informed by McAlpin, and he subsequently texted a group of white deputies who were so prepared to use excessive force that they dubbed themselves “The Goon Squad.”

Locals noticed echoes of racist atrocities committed by those in power in the case’s gruesome facts. According to victims’ lawyers, this time around, individuals who misused their position of authority paid a heavy price.

As a result of the “egregious and despicable” conduct of the former police, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee handed down sentences that were near the maximum allowed by federal guidelines to five of the six individuals who assaulted Jenkins and Parker.

“The depravity of the crimes committed by these defendants cannot be overstated,” Garland remarked during the six ex-officers’ federal sentencing.

A federal prison in West Virginia is housing 53-year-old McAlpin.

In his appeal, Cooperstein is requesting that the district judge reduce McAlpin’s sentence and that the appeals court vacate his original sentence. “The court and the public’s memory and impressions piled up in the weight of all the bad deeds of the night, so that Brett McAlpin, sentenced last, bore the brunt of all that others had done,” Cooperstein wrote.

While apologizing prior to his sentencing on March 21, McAlpin avoided eye contact with the victims.

“This was all wrong, very wrong. It’s not how people should treat each other and even more so, it’s not how law enforcement should treat people,” McAlpin said. “I’m really sorry for being a part of something that made law enforcement look so bad.”

According to federal prosecutor Christopher Perras, who pushed for a lengthy sentence, McAlpin “molded the men into the goons they became” rather than being a member of the Goon Squad.

In his statements to investigators, victim Parker described McAlpin as acting as a “mafia don” while he gave orders to police officers that night. One of the other deputies, Daniel Opdyke, had an attorney who said his client viewed McAlpin as a father figure; the prosecution argued that other deputies frequently attempted to impress McAlpin.

In April, the six ex-officers were sentenced after pleading guilty to charges in a state court.

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