6 former Mississippi law officers to be sentenced in state court for torture of 2 Black men

JACKSON, Miss (AP) — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced Wednesday in state court.

The six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers who attacked Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker in January 2023 have already been sentenced to federal prison terms ranging from about 10 to 40 years. In March, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee called their actions “egregious and despicable” as he gave sentences near the top of the federal guidelines to five of the six men.

Rankin County Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff will sentence all six defendants on state charges Wednesday. They agreed to sentences recommended by state prosecutors ranging from five to 30 years. Time served for the state convictions will run at the same time as the federal sentences, and the men will serve their time in federal penitentiaries.

The case drew outrage from top law enforcement officials in the country, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, who said the officers committed a “heinous attack on citizens they had sworn an oath to protect.” In the episode’s grisly details, local residents saw echoes of Mississippi’s history of racist atrocities by people in authority.

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