Two former Mississippi sheriff’s deputies sentenced in torture case – National & International News – TUE 19Mar2024

Two former Mississippi sheriff’s deputies sentenced in “Goon Squad” torture case.

SCOTUS allows strict Texas immigration enforcement law to go into effect

NATIONAL NEWS

Two former Mississippi sheriff’s deputies sentenced in torture case

In a federal court in Jackson, MS, two former Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies learned their sentences for an infamous incident that took place last year. Hunter Elward, 31, and Jeffrey Middleton, 46, were two of six white officers who comprised the “Goon Squad”, a group of law enforcement officers who carried out numerous brutal assaults on innocent people, most of them Black. Elward was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Middleton received 17.5 years.

Last year, Elward, Middleton and the four others tortured Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker for hours in Parker’s home. During the ordeal, Jenkins and Parker were handcuffed, Tased, sexually assaulted, and even water boarded. The incident ended when Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth. Jenkins and Parker both survived and were present at sentencing today.

The Goon Squad apparently targeted Parker because he shared a home with a white woman. The woman, who has been paralyzed since she was 15, was a childhood friend of Parker’s and Parker was helping to care for her.

The other four officers will be sentenced on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

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Supreme Courts allows strict Texas immigration enforcement law to go into effect

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas’ SB 4 can go into effect, pending rulings on the law by a lower court. SB 4 would allow Texas law enforcement to arrest anyone suspected of having crossed into the country illegally. Magistrates will then be required to order the person’s return to Mexico at the nearest point of entry. These arrests can result in sentences from anywhere between 180 days and 20 years, if the person refuses to return over the border.

The federal government is challenging the law in lower courts, but today’s ruling means the law can go into force while the legal challenges proceed. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett said that if the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (which has the case now) doesn’t issue a full ruling “soon”, the federal government may reapply to the Supreme Court for a stay of the law.

SB 4 presents a very straightforward conflict to the supremacy clause in the US Constitution, which states that federal law supersedes state laws whenever they are in conflict. As the manager of US foreign policy, the federal government is also responsible for setting and enforcing immigration policy. Allowing border states to each enact and enforce their own immigration laws would likely create even more chaos and confusion at the border, which is contrary to their stated purpose. 

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