Nearly four years after brutally beating, running over, and killing James Anderson, an African-American factory worker and family man in Jackson, Mississippi, ten white men and women have all been convicted of various hate crimes in the murder of Anderson. Sentencing is now underway.
According to Reuters, three men were just sentenced.
Three white men who pleaded guilty in Mississippi to hate crimes that included a black man's death were sentenced in federal court on Tuesday to between seven and 50 years in prison.
The three defendants included Deryl Dedmon, 22, who was driving the truck that ran over James Craig Anderson, killing him in a hotel parking lot in 2011.
A total of 10 people have been convicted in connection with the string of racially motivated attacks that sparked outrage in a state that has struggled to overcome a long history of racism.
"The defendants targeted African-American people they perceived as vulnerable for heinous and violent assaults," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "These sentences bring a fitting end to the case against these three men."
Two more men plead guilty in January. Two women, Shelbie Brooke Richards and Sarah Adelia Graves, each 21,
also plead guilty and admitted that they actually encouraged the driver to hit and run over James Anderson with the truck they were in.
According to The Clarion-Ledger in Mississippi:
Richards and Graves admitted that, beginning in the spring of 2011, they and others conspired with one another to harass and assault African Americans in west Jackson. On numerous occasions, the co-conspirators used dangerous weapons including beer bottles, sling shots and motor vehicles to cause and attempt to cause bodily injury to African-Americans.
They would specifically target African-Americans they believed to be homeless or under the influence of alcohol because they believed that such individuals would be less likely to report an assault.
While the man who drove the truck that ran over and ultimately killed Anderson has received the harshest sentence, he was encouraged and instructed every step of the way.
The co-conspirators would often boast about these racially motivated assaults. Richards and Graves admitted that on June 26, 2011, they encouraged their co-conspirators to leave Brandon with them to assault "n------," in Jackson. Richards further admitted that she encouraged her co-conspirator Deryl Paul Dedmon to hit Anderson with his truck. In addition, Richards admitted that she falsely told law enforcement officers that she did not remember a fight between Dedmon and Anderson, and that she did not encourage Dedmon to strike Anderson with his truck.
Ultimately, crimes like this makes one wonder if the evil present during the era of widespread lynching in America hasn't disappeared, but
just shape-shifted into a new generation.