{"id":55824,"date":"2024-03-19T16:18:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T23:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55824"},"modified":"2024-03-19T16:18:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T23:18:20","slug":"mississippi-goon-squad-members-sentenced-to-prison-for-torturing-two-black-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55824","title":{"rendered":"Mississippi &#8220;Goon Squad&#8221; Members Sentenced to Prison for Torturing Two Black Men"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"node-body\">\n<div class=\"field-formatter--text-default field-text-format--wysiwyg text-formatted field_body\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3918 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Two former Mississippi law enforcement officers were sentenced Tuesday for the torture and abuse of two Black men in Rankin County, Mississippi. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Hunter Elward, 31, a former Rankin County Sheriff\u2019s Office (RCSO) Deputy, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Jeffrey Middleton, 46, a former RCSO Lieutenant, was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Four more defendants, all former Mississippi law enforcement officers, will be sentenced tomorrow and Thursday. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">In 2023, all six defendants pleaded guilty to criminal information, charging them with multiple felony offenses, including civil rights conspiracy, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of justice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u201cThese defendants will spend \u00a020 years and 17.5 years in prison for their heinous attack on citizens they had sworn an oath to protect,\u201d said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. \u201cThese defendants kicked in the door of a home where two Black men were residing, handcuffed and arrested them without probable cause, called them racial slurs, and punched, kicked, tased, and assaulted them. After one of the defendants fired his gun in the mouth of one of the victims, breaking his jaw, the defendants gathered outside to come up with a cover story as the victim lay bleeding on the floor. The Justice Department will hold accountable officers who violate constitutional rights, and in so doing, betray the public trust.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Six ex-Mississippi officers plead guilty to state charges for torturing two Black men\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hGmXiHhwf8c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Horrendous&quot;: Black Men Tortured By White Mississippi Police \u201cGoon Squad\u201d  React to Guilty Pleas\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4QVbKzYPAKE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two former Mississippi law enforcement officers were sentenced Tuesday for the torture and abuse of two Black men in Rankin County, Mississippi. Hunter Elward, 31, a former Rankin County Sheriff\u2019s Office (RCSO)&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mississippi &quot;Goon Squad&quot; Members Sentenced to Prison for Torturing Two Black Men<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two former Mississippi law enforcement officers were sentenced Tuesday for the torture and abuse of two Black men in Rankin County, Mississippi. 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