Kingfish note: This is not a case of the A.G. piggybacking off the feds. MBI turned it findings over to the A.G. The A.G. in turned prosecuted the case in tandem with the federalis. It was agreed the Federalis would go first today. The A.G. has participated or been present in negotiations between defendants and feds.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch issued the following statement.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced today that her office filed charges in Rankin County Circuit Court against six officers involved in a shooting on January 24, 2023, in Braxton, Mississippi. The five former officers of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office and one former Richland Police Department Investigator were charged with Aggravated Assault, Home Invasion, Obstruction of Justice/Hindering Prosecution in the First Degree, and Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice/Hinder Prosecution.
“Without a relationship of trust between law enforcement officers and those they swear to serve and protect, our fight for justice and against crime is doomed to fail,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “This brutal attack caused more than physical harm to these two individual victims; it severed that vital trust with the people. This abuse of power will not be tolerated. The Attorney General’s Office is committed to delivering justice for these victims and for all Mississippians.”
The Attorney General’s Office has worked closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on this matter. Mississippi Deputy Attorney General Mary Helen Wall was deputized as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the federal case and is leading the prosecution of the state case, which was investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
“The egregious conduct of these individuals is a dark stain on law enforcement and erodes the public’s trust in a profession that does so many great things each and every day,” said Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell. “I am grateful for the hard work of our federal counterparts, which is reflected in today’s outcome. I am also extremely confident in the process by which these cases are now investigated and prosecuted by the State of Mississippi. The work of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Attorney General’s Office will help build public confidence that bad actors such as these will be held accountable at the state level, as well.”
The state charges as are follows:
- Former Rankin County Sheriff Deputy Hunter Elward was charged with Aggravated Assault, Home Invasion, and Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice/Hinder Prosecution.
- Former Rankin County Sheriff Narcotics Investigator Christian Dedmon was charged with Home Invasion and Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice/Hinder Prosecution.
- Former Rankin County Sheriff Chief Investigator Brett McAlpin was charged with Obstruction of Justice/Hindering Prosecution in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice/Hinder Prosecution.
- Former Rankin County Sheriff Lieutenant Jeffrey Middleton was charged with Obstruction of Justice/Hindering Prosecution in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice/Hinder Prosecution.
- Former Rankin County Sheriff Deputy Daniel Opdyk was charged with Obstruction of Justice/Hindering Prosecution in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice/Hinder Prosecution.
- Former Richland Police Department Narcotics Investigator Joshua Hartfield was charged with Obstruction of Justice/Hindering Prosecution in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice/Hinder Prosecution.
In federal court this morning, the six defendants pleaded guilty to 13 federal 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.
“I want to make clear,” continued Fitch, “that we also work with good, honest, dedicated law enforcement officers in Mississippi every day. My message to anyone who has seen these criminal acts and wonders if they can trust the officers who police their streets is this: The six men that committed these heinous acts are not the rule; they are the exception. Most of the men and women who put on a uniform every day are true to their oath. They put their lives on the line to protect you and to keep your communities safe.”
“If we are going to take back our lives and our homes and our cities from criminals, it is absolutely crucial that the courageous and law-abiding citizens of Mississippi and those brave and honest officers be an unbreakable team. My office is committed to being part of rebuilding the trust and the bond that is so strained by incidents like this. Working together, as we did with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, FBI, and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation here, it is my hope that we can help these victims begin to heal today and we can help restore confidence in our criminal justice system moving forward,” said General Fitch.
In the 2022 Legislative Session, the Mississippi Legislature amended Section 45-1-6 of the Mississippi Code to give the Attorney General’s Office responsibility for the review and prosecution, following investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, of all officer-involved shootings that result in injury or death.
Read General Fitch’s full statement here.
31 comments:
Yet where is the accountability for the leader of this department? Will the Sheriff not be held accountable? Ridiculous
Come on Lynn, that double jeopardy.
Despite what some might say, especially on the national level, there has been some progress in Mississippi since 1960. In 1960 these guys would not have been charged at all and if they were, they would laugh and plead not guilty and ultimately walk free. If anyone went to jail it would be the black victims. No more laughing now. Send a message.
What bothers me is that they victims have testified that the sheriff’s deputies used racial slurs and also raged about them having white females. Why aren’t the Feds bringing hate crimes charges as well? This violence was clearly motivated by racism and bigotry against men who had no problem bringing luring white girls into their home.
The bottom line is this was tolerated because of the number of white females who were going in and out of the house.
@5:11
No this is all federal.
Once again Lynn Fitch is piggybacking on someone else.
Also, Bubba Bramlett wouldn’t bring this before a grand jury because Bryan Bailey tells him (and the grand jury) who to indict.
You know Lynn is late/got burned as she has "filed charges" not returned indictments. Anyone can go file charges. Lynn is so late to the party that the bandwagon left without her
Bravery would have been to indict these monsters before the feds got involved. Instead, like a weathervane, Lynn files charges after they admit guilt in federal court. Great job, Lynn!
see note I posted at the top.
Who represented each of these defendants in federal court today?
5:35
Public defenders, PBA wouldn’t touch it anymore
Lynn finally woke up and realized that she is up for re-election. Isn't she busy suing China?
KF, so Fitch told you that her office was involved all along? Why are you shilling for Lynn Fitch, the Incompetent?
@5:15 PM. Exactly!
No they don't put their lives in the line every day protecting us. They sit in their cars writing tickets instead of investigating real crimes.
If any of these goons had ever ticketed me, arrested me or testified against me I'd be on the phone to a lawyer yesterday. It'll be interesting to see how many cases get thrown out.
Sort of begs the question: how deep does the rot go? How many illegitimate arrests have been made in Rankin County?
Bubba Bramlett CAN'T bring it to a grand jury.
In case you forgot, the legislature changed the law after the Fox case. Your hero Mayor Lumumba bitched about it in a big way this year.
MBI now handles the investigation and refers its findings to the AG for prosecution. That is now the law of the land and has been for at least a year.
(Word on the streets in Beijing)
China's Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping ...is still afraid of Lynn's China lawsuit.
Once again we're reminded that our Attorney General is the weeds over her head and needs help getting out of the rough.
Kingfish attempts to come to her rescue but he's also in over his head.
Hartfield planted dope in my car on 9/26/2018 I even have it on video but there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Rankin county railroads so much crap like this through there it’s not even funny. They do not want to hear anything you got to say. If you do buck any they only make it worse on you. I have the dash cam video where I tell him to his face “the only way you found dope in that car is if YOU put it in there “. It’s a long story but after I got out and a whole lot of begging from my mother I went back and started deep cleaning the vehicle and sure enough the bad dreams she kept having were right !! There was another bag of dope dropped down in the seatbelt hole in the backseat so he could get me again and seal my fate just to pad his conviction numbers. I hope these SOBs rot in hell.
8:42 am, you should stop engaging in illicit drug use and other criminal behavior. Try hard to be a better person.
Just as there are corporate cultures, there are law enforcement cultures. I hope Rankin County power will look to see if there were any flaws in their systems or ways to avoid hiring such people.
Is Christian Dedmon related to Deryl Dedmon, Jr. (I assume he is still in prison).
I found this part interesting:
“ Prosecutors also revealed that Middleton, a former Rankin County lieutenant, had an unregistered pistol in his truck specifically to plant on a victim if needed, while Dedmon was in possession of drugs recovered from another operation that had not been logged into evidence.”
It seems all the stories we’ve heard about the Rankin County police over the last few decades were 100 percent true. Time to start vacating every drug conviction this criminal group ever participated in. How many innocent people are still in prison because of these dirty cops? How is the Sheriff going to clean up his own mess?
someone please tell ms fitch she's a little late to the game.
The goons will get significantly more jail time and fines than anything that MS statutes can give, so this is just political pandering in an election year.
Confidence is high that significant changes have been made, are being made, and will continue to be made to de-militarize county law enforcement operations without sacrificing public safety and security. There is just no place for a militaristic approach to local law enforcement. It's time for law enforcement leaders to take responsibility for allowing some things that routinely happen in Iraq and Afghanistan to take place stateside. No place for that $hit.
@1:18 - Tell us what a 'registered pistol' is. There is no registration process for handguns in Mississippi.
I watched the presser with the Federal Prosecutor. Just off behind him to his right, as he spoke, stood a woman who I think was Lynn Fitch's staff member. She grinned and exhibited odd facial contortions throughout the entire press conference.
I'm sure Lynn will put a note in her file, or at least exclude her from future similar events.
At least the music from 'Mississippi Burning' was not playing in the background.
I was really suspicious of this story when it came out. It’s easy to get a chip on our shoulders when cops are accused of wrongdoing due to all the anti-law enforcement/BLM crap that has been going on the last few years. Unfortunately these guys are guilty since they plead accordingly. We had our share of corrupt cops in the past in my county. Unfortunately policing seems to attract some disreputable people.
I wonder if any of them learned how to torture folks and run amuck in Afghanistan courtesy of Uncle Sam?
3:43 PM, Mississippi is getting to be much like a third world country. The whole country is well on it's way to becoming one. Why shouldn't the people act the way they are? They are the cause of it all.
@3:46
This may be “fedspeak” for an Polymer80 or other “ghost gun” with no serial number.
While I don’t oppose private ownership of ghost guns, why would a Deputy sheriff?
It’s indicative of their habits of planting evidence to justify their racist behavior.
Planting ghost guns also inflates the metrics of “crimes with ghost guns” that the Feds love to parrot as evidence that they should take away our rights to make our own untraced weapons.
Another reminder about how ridiculous you rednecks are with your Gadsden flags and “thin blue line” bumper stickers.
Here’s your jackboot right here!
But maybe you don’t care if he treads on blacks as long as he doesn’t tread on you?
Unless it’s in DC and you are peacefully protesting and then a bunch of Feds start their own riot…
Or attack themselves to justify a war…
🤔 really makes you think why we shouldn’t tolerate their slippery slope bullshit
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