
In a development that was eagerly anticipated given the concerns that the case raised about police brutality and racial justice, six former Mississippi police officers are expected to be sentenced after they were found to have tortured two Black men.
The sentencing hearings are scheduled for later this month after the officers were convicted of violating the civil rights of James Anderson and Jermaine Walker, both Black men, in separate and brutal 2019 incidents in Prentiss, Mississippi, that led to public outcry nationwide.
For months afterward, it was a national news story after video footage went viral showing the arresting officers assaulting Anderson and Walker with their fists, feet, and other objects. (The officers were capturing themselves on video.) The footage showed the men getting kicked, punched, and struck with other objects while handcuffed in a prone position.
Officials opened a case into the matter, and the officers were charged with deprivation of rights under the color of law, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors presented evidence – direct witness statements, a forensic analysis of the clip itself – which argued that these officers had not only violated the civil rights of those they killed but also had trespassed upon powers themselves tasked with using authority to protect citizens.
Finally, last December, after more than four and a half years had passed, a federal jury unanimously found all six former officers guilty on multiple counts. Revolutionaries on the streets of Baltimore cheered, and civil rights leaders and community leaders who had vigilantly tracked the case finally felt validation.
At this early stage of the proceedings, people are waiting with bated breath for sentencing hearings. It seems possible that the former officers will receive
Source: denvergazette.com March 19, 2024