They called themselves the ‘death squad‘. Six Mississippi police officers, all white, entered the home of two African-American men last year and subjected them to all kinds of torture. Today the sentence for two of them was announced: 20 and 17 years in prison.

Accompanied by their families, Michael and Eddie arrived expectantly at the trial against their attackers. In the dock, the death squad, as these six white former police officers from the Mississippi department call themselves They are accused of subjecting them to all kinds of torture just because they are black.

Trent Walker, Parker and Jenkins’ attorney, said: “Given the magnitude of the atrocities that were committed against Mr. Parker and Mr. Jenkins. We have asked for maximum penalties according to the law“.

It all happened on January 24 of last year. The six police officers, alerted by a neighbor, illegally entered the house where Michael and Eddie were. Here they were handcuffed, shot with electric guns, and sexually tortured for almost two hours.

As a culmination, they shot Michael in the mouth, and he was in a very serious condition in the hospital. The bullet broke his jaw and he is still in pain. The judge himself has described the acts committed by these former officers as atrocious and despicable. and has sentenced two of them to 20 and 17 years in prison.

The maximum penalty goes to Hunter Elward because he was the one who shot Michael in the mouth. During the trial, Elward has asked for their forgiveness and has claimed to hate himself for what he did to them. Eddie Parker, a victim of that abuse, responded to the former officer: “I accept part of his apology but other than that, he knew what he was doing and he has to be punished for that.”

For his part, for Michael it is a relief to know that they will pay for what they did to them and he has admitted to feeling “more secure.” This week the other four former agents will learn his sentence.