Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey issued the following statement.
We hope that today’s guilty pleas bring some sense of justice to the two victims in this case. In one of our first public statements, we said “if any deputy or suspect involved in this incident is found to have broken the law, he will be held accountable in accordance with the law.” I believe today’s guilty pleas show the community that our system of checks and balances is effective. An unbiased and impartial investigation into these former officers uncovered their criminal actions. We thank the men and women of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the U.S. Department of Justice for their time, energy, and effort devoted to this case. The Rankin County Sheriff’s Office continues to evaluate and modify its policies, procedures, and training for all sheriff’s office employees. We have asked for assistance from outside agencies and contracted with outside firms to evaluate us, make recommendations, and conduct training. These actions are taken to prevent anything like January’s tragedy from ever happening again.Kingfish note: Comment in the post below.
