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Nearly a month after being sentenced to federal prison for torturing and sexually assaulting two Black men and a third white man, six former Rankin County law enforcement officers known as the Goon Squad received state prison sentences Wednesday.

Rankin County Circuit Court Judge Steve Ratcliffe handed down prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years during a brief hearing.

“For many, many years, the Goon Squad has come into this courtroom and they have testified falsely against persons that they have beaten and caused to be wrongfully incarcerated,” Malik Shabazz, a lawyer representing two of the victims, said outside the courthouse. 

“But today was dramatically different. Today, the judge in this circuit county court has given out justice to the Rankin County Goon Squad.”

Ratcliffe sentenced former patrol deputy Hunter Elward, who shot one of the men, to 20 years in state prison. Brett McAlpin, the former chief investigator, and Jeffrey Middleton, the lieutenant over the night shift known as the Goon Squad, were both sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

Former narcotics detective Christian Dedmon was sentenced to 20 years. Patrol deputy Daniel Opdyke and Richland narcotics investigator Joshua Hartfield got 15 years and 10 years, respectively.

Last month, the deputies all received federal prison terms ranging from nearly 18 years to 40 years. Hartfield received the shortest federal sentence – 10 years. The state sentences will run concurrently to the men’s federal sentences, meaning it’s unlikely any of the former officers will serve additional prison time.

The former officers will be required to turn in their state law enforcement certificates. They did not read statements during the hearing.

The five Rankin County deputies and the Richland police officer pleaded guilty last summer to state and federal charges for illegally raiding the home of Braxton residents Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins in January 2023.

The officers handcuffed the men before beating them, hurling racial slurs and assaulting them with a sex toy.

Elward then shoved his gun into Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger, shooting him through the neck and nearly killing him. The officers attempted to cover up their actions by planting drugs on the men, concocting a false narrative to justify the shooting and destroying evidence, according to a Justice Department investigation.

Dedmon, Elward and Opdyke also pleaded guilty for their roles in a separate torture incident in December 2022. After Rankin County deputies pulled over Alan Schmidt, they beat the man and shocked him with a Taser on the side of the highway. Dedmon fired his duty pistol to scare Schmidt, and threatened to dump his body in a nearby river.

Dedmon then sexually assaulted Schmidt, pressing his genitals against the man’s mouth and bare buttocks while he was handcuffed.

“These criminal acts make a difficult job even harder and far more dangerous,” MIssissippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a statement. “And it is left to us all to commit ourselves to repairing that damage.”

Charges against Rankin County officers have so far been focused on these two incidents, but dozens of county residents say the sheriff’s department has routinely targeted drug users and minor drug dealers with similar levels of violence.

The New York Times and Mississippi Today published an investigation last fall revealing that deputies in the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, many of whom called themselves the Goon Squad, routinely barged into homes in the middle of the night, handcuffed people and tortured them for information.

The deputies repeatedly shocked people with Tasers, assaulted a Hinds County sheriff’s deputy, waterboarded several men, dripped molten metal onto one man’s skin and beat several people until they were bloody and bruised, according to dozens of people who say they witnessed or experienced the raids.

Several of the people who said they experienced violence filed lawsuits or complained to the department. A few said they contacted Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey directly, but were ignored.

Protesters have held rallies at the sheriff’s office and the Governor’s Mansion in recent weeks, renewing demands for Bailey to resign. Bailey, who did not respond to requests for comment for this story, has said he has no plans to step down.

Local activists said the sentences were another step toward accountability for a sheriff’s department that has long terrorized its residents.

“This chapter of the book has been written, but the book has not finished,” Angela English, president of the Rankin County chapter of the NAACP, said outside the courthouse. “There is much more to be done.” 

After Wednesday’s hearing, a crowd of activists and local residents walked from the courthouse to the sheriff’s office through pouring rain, demanding to speak with Sheriff Bailey and calling for him to resign. 

Department attorney Jason Dare, facing a barrage of forceful questions from the crowd,said he would try to schedule a meeting between residents and department representatives to discuss how to move forward together. The sheriff did not make an appearance.

The Rankin County district attorney’s office confirmed it was reviewing and dismissing criminal cases involving Goon Squad members, but District Attorney Bubba Bramlett has declined to share which cases have been dismissed or how far back in time his review will go.

The Mississippi House of Representatives and Senate recently passed a bill that would expand oversight over the state’s law enforcement, allowing the state board that certifies officers to investigate and revoke the licenses of officers accused of misconduct, regardless of whether they are criminally charged.

The bill is expected to land on the governor’s desk in the coming weeks after a final review by the House. 

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The Environmental Protection Agency set official limits on Wednesday for a group of chemicals, called “PFAS,” in public drinking water.

Shortly after the EPA’s announcement, JXN Water, the third-party manager of Jackson’s drinking water system, put out a press release saying that the utility is in line with the new regulations.

“Unlike many communities across the country that have to address forever chemicals in their drinking water, JXN Water announces that testing of our water revealed that forever chemicals are either not present or present at extremely low levels in both the Pearl River and Jackson’s finished drinking water,” said the utility, which manages the state’s largest drinking water system.

JXN Water posted its test results for PFAS and other contaminants on its website.

For decades, starting around the mid-20th century, manufacturers used the chemicals in products like stain repellents and non-stick cookware. While companies have phased out the use of PFAS after learning about the dangers of exposing them to humans, the chemicals’ unique bonds allow them to persist in the environment for years and years, which is why they’re sometimes called “forever chemicals.”

Public drinking water systems around the country will now have three years to monitor their releases for PFAS, and then five years, or until 2029, to bring PFAS levels under the newly established limits. After that, utilities with PFAS above EPA levels will be in violation. The enforceable limits for PFOA and PFOS, the more common types of PFAS, are now 4 parts per trillion.

In a partnership between Consumer Reports, the Clarion Ledger, Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Mississippi Today, an investigation last year showed there were traces of PFAS in 98% of samples taken around the state. Only one of the 149 samples, from a home in Corinth, showed PFAS levels above the EPA’s new rule.

While clean water advocates argue that no level of PFAS is safe to consumer, others in the water utility world say that the new EPA rule could hurt ratepayers, especially those in small communities. Attorneys and experts who spoke to Mississippi Today said that some utilities in the state aren’t currently in compliance with the PFAS limit, and that the costs of coming into compliance may financially strain smaller utilities that are already struggling to stay afloat.

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Former PGA Tour player and national junior champion Randy Watkins talks Masters favorites and joins in a discussion about the recent NCAA national championship basketball games.

Stream all episodes here.

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S&P Global Ratings, one of the big three credit rating agencies, has lowered Mississippi’s outlook from stable to negative, citing concerns about weak state economic trends, continuing tax cuts and the state’s massive government pension plan.

S&P lowered the outlook — usually considered a fiscal warning shot to governments — in March, but did not lower the state’s relatively good credit rating of AA on its general obligation debt or its ratings on other types of debt. But it said the outlook on all Mississippi’s ratings is negative.

It appears neither Moody’s Investor Services nor Fitch Ratings, the other two agencies, has recently lowered the state’s outlook or bond ratings.

Lawmakers during Senate debate on Tuesday over the state’s government employee retirement system obliquely referred to the lowered credit outlook.

“If you think our bond rating has issues now, that ain’t going to help it,” said Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, arguing against a move to strip the retirement system board of authority to require increased employer contributions to the plan.

A downgrade in credit ratings can cost taxpayers millions when the state refinances debt or borrows money. In 2016, with the state budget tanking from numerous tax cuts and a flagging economy, Fitch downgraded the state’s credit rating from AA+ to AA and Moody’s lowered its outlook to negative.

S&P in a March statement about Mississippi said: “The outlook revision reflects our view of elevated credit risks stemming partly from persistently weak economic and demographic trends, which could result in an increasingly challenging budget environment as the state manages through its phased-in income tax reductions. The risk of future budgetary pressure is further elevated due to pension contributions falling short of their actuarially determined contribution amounts in each of the past three years and a relatively high level of unfunded pension liabilities. Finally, recurring delays in adopting the state’s annual revenue forecasts or a reduced commitment to debt management policies could worsen our view of the state’s budgetary performance and Financial Management Assessment.”

State Treasurer David McRae said he questions whether S&P is overreacting in its analysis and outlook downgrade, but said he takes all such reports seriously.

“While our credit rating remains strong and unchanged, this is a warning of where S&P may go if the issues they highlighted are not addressed,” McRae said. “S&P has always been an outlier and all too quick to assume the worst when other credit-rating agencies provide a more nuanced analysis of complex issues. That said, I take all recommendations seriously and encourage the Legislature to address the underlying issues without tax increases, whether direct or indirect on Mississippians.”

House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, questioned the outlook change, saying “we are in the best financial shape we’ve been in in our history.”

“Our rainy day account is full … and we haven’t borrowed any money in three years,” Lamar said.

The S&P outlook references tax cuts passed the Legislature in 2022. This was the largest personal income tax cut in state history, which began being phased in 2023 and will continue through 2026, eventually reducing state revenue by an estimated $525 million a year.

Mississippi’s revenue and state coffers, like those in many states, has seen huge increases from the federal government spending billions during and after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

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A trial judge has rejected the request of a mother of four for a new trial, despite the state’s pathologist reversing his original ruling and saying the death was more likely a suicide.

“Nothing in Mississippi statutory and case law requires that the Forensic Pathologist must determine the manner of death to be homicide before a jury may convict a defendant of murder,” wrote Circuit Judge James Kitchens Jr.

A Clay County jury convicted Tameshia Shelton of murder in the 2009 shooting death of her sister’s boyfriend, Danelle Young. Shelton, who was sentenced to life, won’t be eligible for parole until 2043.

“Every day that passes represents an incalculable hardship to Ms. Shelton, to her children and her loved ones, as she serves her life in prison for a crime that never happened,” said her lawyer, Sandra Levick. “We will definitely appeal. We trust the higher court will correct this injustice.”

The prosecution never presented a motive for why Shelton, now 45, would have killed Young. 

In April 2022, Kitchens presided over the last of three days of hearings over whether Shelton deserved a new trial. Those post-conviction hearings revealed evidence never shown to the jury, including an apparent suicide note Young wrote.

In 2009, forensic pathologist Dr. Liam Funte ruled Young’s death a homicide, basing that decision on the trajectory of the bullet from the front of the chest to the back “without significant deviation to left or right.”

Under questioning by Levick at one hearing, Funte said at the time he had not seen that in a suicide, but he said he has seen such cases since and was “leaning toward suicide.”

In reversing the original ruling, he cited scientific studies on bullet trajectories in suicides and homicides. In one study, more than 36% of suicides had bullet trajectories that did not deviate to the left or right.

After a verbal argument in which Shelton’s sister said she told Young that she didn’t want to live with him, Young walked to Shelton’s trailer.

Shelton told authorities that she was already in bed with her infant daughter when Young knocked on the window of the trailer. She went to the front door, and she said he told her that he only needed one bullet to kill a racoon.

She said she replied that he might need more than one bullet and loaded her .22 pistol and gave it to him.

When he failed to return, she said she went outside, found him collapsed on the gravel driveway and called 911.

In the autopsy report, Funte concluded the gun was fired from less than an inch away.

Both he and another forensic pathologist, Dr. Randall Frost, demonstrated at hearings how the small gun could fire a self-inflicted shot, following the same path the bullet traveled through Young’s body.

Funte said he would now rule the death “undetermined.”

Kitchens never addressed either the demonstrations or the apparent suicide note in his 15-page decision. In that note, Young wrote, “I have no life without her [Shelton’s sister]. … Tell [your daughter] Treasure about me one day. Bye. Bye.”

Under cross-examination at the post-conviction hearing by Special Assistant Attorney General Jackie Bost II, Funte acknowledged one scientific study showed that more than 82% of suicides by gunfire were shots to the head, while 16% were shots to the chest.

Other pathologists, who testified for the defense at the hearing, said Young’s death should have been ruled a suicide or undetermined.

At trial, Funte cited the lack of history that Young had suicidal thoughts or attempts, but said he had since seen impulsive suicides with no such history.

Asked how many suicides he had seen that were impulsive, Funte replied between 15% and 20%, with studies that put that number beyond 20%.

Bost asked, “So, four out of five suicides are not impulsive?”

“Correct,” Funte replied.

During the hearing, Judge Kitchens said Funte’s changed testimony “is probably the most damning to the conviction … That’s hard to get around.”

But in his new ruling, the judge found no problem.

Although the last hearing took place in April 2022, Kitchens had yet to rule in the case when Shelton’s lawyers complained to the Mississippi Supreme Court in November 2023. A clerk told justices that Kitchens should rule in December 2023.

When that didn’t happen by Jan. 22, justices ordered Kitchens to complete an order in 45 days. He took 53 days.

Matt Steffey, professor of law at the Mississippi College School of Law, said both dynamics and legal reasons make it difficult to persuade a trial judge to reverse a conviction in a case that he presided over a trial.

During a trial, a defendant is presumed innocent, but after a conviction, the law presumes the defendant is guilty, Steffey said. “It’s not enough to persuade a court that an error has been made.”

The defendant also has to prove the error likely impacted the verdict, he said. “This is a difficult standard to meet.”

Cognitive science shows how difficult it is to persuade people of their errors, and there are political dynamics as well, he said. “Trial judges are elected officials. Vacating convictions or ordering new trials can provide fodder for potential political opponents eager to claim a judge is insufficiently tough on crime and criminals.”

The simple truth is post-conviction relief offers “narrow grounds and a slim chance for success,” he said.

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The Senate voted 38-7 Tuesday to prevent the board that governs the state’s public employee pension plan from increasing the rates government agencies pay to fund the system.

But in passing the legislation, Senate leaders, including Appropriations Chairman Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, told the Senate they supported providing state money to improve the long-term financial viability of the Public Employees Retirement System.

Under current state law, the board that governors PERS can act unilaterally to increase the amount employers, such as state agencies, city and county governments and education entities, contribute to PERS.

But the Senate proposal would give the Legislature the final authority on whether to impose the rate increases.

The financial issues surrounding PERS have come to the forefront this session after its board voted to increase by 5% over a three-year period the amount government entities contribute toward the paycheck of each employee. Various agencies, especially city and county governments, complained they could not afford the increase that would require them to raise taxes and-or cut services.

In response to the increase the PERS board approved, the House proposed to suspend the increase and to dissolve the board. The board, composed primarily of people elected by current public employees and retirees, would be replaced primarily by members appointed by the governor and lieutenant governor under the House plan.

The Senate killed the House plan much to the consternation of the House leaders. But on Tuesday the Senate amended a House bill designed to allow certain retired members to go back to work and continue to draw their retirement. The Senate amendment gives the board the authority to make a recommendation to the Legislature on increasing the employer contribution rate.

The PERS board under the new Senate proposal also would be required to include an analysis by its actuary and two independent actuaries on the reason the increase was needed and the impact the increase would have on governmental entities.

When passing the amendment, which now goes back to House, Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Chair David Parker, R-Southaven, said the Legislature also should infuse cash into PERS this session to help improve its long-term financial outlook.

But Parker said that infusion of cash would have to be done through an appropriations bill later in the process.

“I agree with the concept we need to put a significant amount of funds into the system this year,” Senate Appropriations Chair Hopson told his fellow senators during debate.

The 2% increase in the employer contribution rate that the PERS Board intends to enact on July 1 unless blocked by the Legislature would cost about $150 million cumulatively for local governments, education entities and state agencies, Parker said. An additional 3% increase would be enacted over the next two years unless blocked by the Legislature.

READ MORE: Public retirement system debate may not be dead yet this session

A small bipartisan group of senators voted against the proposal on Tuesday. They objected to taking away the PERS board’s authority to increase the employer contribution rate unilaterally and also expressed concern that the House would not agree to a Senate proposal to pump additional funds into the program.

After the Senate action, PERS Executive Director Ray Higgins, said, “We are aware of recent legislative developments and are monitoring closely. PERS is a very important system to so many, and additional funding in some manner is necessary for the long-term needs of the plan. We look forward to continued work with the Legislature on this important topic.”

Former Insurance Commissioner George Dale, who is a member of the PERS board elected by the retirees, said, “There has not been enough dialog between the board and the Legislature on what needs to be done to preserve the pension funds for Mississippi public retirees.”

Dale stressed that PERS could meet its financial obligation for current retirees. But he said there could be problems in the future unless action is taken to improve the financial position of the system.

He also said altering the makeup of the board would not change the issues facing the system.

Parker said the Senate has no plans to change the composition of the board, and the amendment passed by the Senate on Tuesday included language stressing that there is no intent to change the benefits for current retirees and public employees.

The plan now goes to the House where members can concur with the Senate proposal and sent it to Gov. Tate Reeves or invite conference or negotiations between the two chambers.

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House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann have both agreed to negotiate final details of a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor in public meetings, an increasingly rare occurrence at the state Capitol.  

The House last week voted to “invite conference” with the Senate to try and work out a compromise on a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to more Mississippians. In recent years the vast majority of conference committee negotiations don’t take place in public. 

White, a Republican from West, first called for the negotiations to be public in a recent interview with Mississippi Today. The new speaker said he doesn’t believe it’s realistic for lawmakers to have public conference committee meetings on every relevant bill but believes Medicaid expansion rises to the level of holding such a public meeting.  

“I think the public on this issue is probably going to demand it to some degree, is going to want to see where people are on it,” White said. 

Hosemann, a Republican who leads the Senate, also said in a statement that he believes major issues should be “conducted in public and not behind closed doors,” including conference committees. 

“Such conversations create a better end product,” Hosemann said. “The Senate has demonstrated its own commitment to transparency by holding public conference committees in the past, equipping committee rooms with webcasting and archiving abilities, and robustly debating issues on the floor.” 

A conference committee is formed when the House and the Senate pass different versions of the same bill, such as the case with Medicaid expansion. When this occurs, the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor each appoint three lawmakers from the chamber they lead to work out the differences in a conference committee.

For the first time since the federal Affordable Care Act became law, the two legislative chambers have each passed plans to expand Medicaid coverage. But each has proposed vastly different proposals, making the conference process extremely important on a measure that could provide health insurance to poor Mississippians. 

The House’s expansion plan aims to expand health care coverage to upwards of 200,000 Mississippians, and accept $1 billion a year in federal money to cover it, as most other states have done.

The Senate, on the other hand, wants a more restrictive program, to expand Medicaid to cover around 40,000 people, turn down the federal money, and require proof that recipients are working roughly 30 hours a week. 

If the lawmakers, called conferees, cannot reach an agreement, the bill would die. But if they do reach an accord, the revised bill, called a conference report, gets brought back to the full Senate and House again for consideration.

The joint rules of the Legislature, which the vast majority of lawmakers voted in favor of this year, state that all official conference committee meetings “shall be open to the public at all times.” 

The reality, though, is conference committees often involve lawmakers simply talking over the phone or exchanging text messages. Other times, lawmakers may skip an actual meeting and just email proposals back and forth.

The practice often leaves the public and rank-and-file lawmakers in the dark about what happens in these meetings and how the reports are drafted.

Hosemann and Senate leaders upended these norms in 2022 by calling for a public conference committee meeting for the House and Senate to haggle over the final details of a proposal to increase public K-12 teacher salaries. 

“I’ve encouraged all of my chairmen to meet with all of their chairmen and to do it in a public forum,” Hosemann said at the time. 

Hosemann’s push for a public process that year resulted in several committee leaders having public meetings.

Former House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, at the time was less encouraged to deviate from the conference process norms and asserted that “the overwhelming majority of bills don’t require a show.”

“We don’t have to get in a room with everybody sitting around the table and negotiate,” Gunn said. “They can talk on the phone. They can just send written letters back and forth.”

It appears White, currently in his first term as speaker, is willing to have more public conference meetings than his predecessor, though he has continued the practice of holding private Republican caucus meetings at the Capitol, which effectively gives the supermajority House GOP a chance to formulate and debate policy outside public view.

Under Hosemann, the Republican-majority Senate does not conduct any formal, closed-door GOP caucus meetings. 

The Senate also since 2020 has live-streamed its committee meetings, open to the public online, while the House has not.

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The Senate on Tuesday voted down House legislation to rewrite and remove the objective formula used to determine the amount of money local school districts should receive for their basic operations.

The Senate had the option under legislative rules of inviting conference to negotiate differences in education funding formula bills passed by the House and Senate or accepting the House proposal and sending the bill to the governor.

Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, made the unusual motion to not concur but did not make a motion to invite conference. That essentially killed the bill.

Theoretically, a senator could make another motion Wednesday and revive the legislation. But DeBar said his goal is to work with House Education Chairman Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, the state Department of Education and outside experts in the legislative off session on the complex issue of how the education funding formula should be adjusted or changed.

“I am willing and committed to work in the off session … to address the funding formula for education …,” DeBar said.

DeBar said he did not see the House’s education funding formula proposal until relatively late in the session.

“I think it is imperative to look at it together and move slowly in doing it,” he said. “I don’t think when we address a third of the state budget we should do it in a rush.”

DeBar said it is the Senate’s intention to put an additional $206 million into kindergarten through 12th grade public education this session and to study the funding formula to possibly be changed or replaced in the 2025 session.

Plus, the Senate is proposing funding $50 million in pay raises for K-12 teachers and $50 million in salary increases for university and community college faculty.

The Senate’s intention to place more funds into education could lead to a legislative showdown in the coming weeks as efforts are made to finalize a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning July 1.

House Speaker Jason White, R-West, has said he would not support placing additional money into public education unless the longstanding Mississippi Adequate Education Program is replaced.

The MAEP was passed in 1997 and fully enacted in 2003. In recent years many members of the legislative leadership have tried to replace MAEP, saying the state could not afford it.

House leaders, though, say their current proposal would place an additional $230 million into education and would provide extra funds for low-income students and others who face educational challengers, such as non-English learners.

After the Senate action, White said in a statement, “By refusing to have meaningful discussion on this issue and enter into the conference phase of the legislative
process, the Senate has moved to preserve the status quo which will result in less funds to
public schools and inadequate distribution in an unfair and inequitable manor.
As speaker of the House, I have clearly communicated with Senate leadership the House
position that we have funded MAEP for the last time. As we near the end of the legislative
session, the House will continue to look for ways to fund education with a student-centered
formula.”

READ MORE: Fight over school funding formula could lead to big bucks for schools

But many education advocates have been critical of the House plan because it does not include an objective formula to determine the amount of money needed for the basic operation of schools.

Nancy Loome, executive director of the Parents Campaign, a public education advocacy group, said the House plan had laudable features. But she said her group opposed the plan because it left it up to the Legislature to determine the amount of money needed to provide for the basic operation of schools. She said the plan has a feature requiring education experts to make a recommendation on the funding level to legislators, but the plan does not mandate that recommendation be adopted by legislators.

The Senate proposed changes to MAEP, but DeBar said any rewrite should include an objective funding formula.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include additional information about proposed teacher and higher education faculty pay raises and updated comments from House Speaker Jason White.

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