Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers pleaded guilty Monday to all state charges against them stemming from the torture and abuse of two Black men earlier this year.
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 earlier this month to federal charges in connection to the same January 2023 incident, which the victims have claimed was motivated by their race.
Tasers, taunts, torment: How 6 White officers subjected 2 Black men to hours of grueling violence, and then tried to cover it up
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.
Source: cnn.com
