Horrific hate crime that prompted SPLC lawsuit in Mississippi concludes with final guilty pleas

[inanna]

Southern Poverty Law Center
01/08/2015

It was a vicious hate crime that shocked the country – a black man in Jackson, Mississippi, attacked by a group of white teens and killed when he was deliberately run down by a pickup truck.

<snip>

In 2012, Deryl Paul Dedmon, 22, the driver of the truck that ran over Anderson and the alleged ringleader of the group, pleaded guilty to murder and hate crime charges. He was sentenced to life in prison after Anderson’s family urged the prosecutor to not seek the death penalty.

In court yesterday, according to The Clarion-Ledger, Blalack admitted that he and the others had cruised the streets of Jackson, which they called “Jafrica,” on at least 10 occasions to harass and attack African Americans. On one trip, they beat a man near a golf course until he begged for his life.

On the night of June 25, 2011, seven of them left a party in nearby Puckett, armed with beer bottles to throw. Sometime after midnight, they found Anderson, an autoworker and the lead tenor in his church choir, in a motel parking lot. One of the teens knocked him to the ground as the assault began. One reportedly shouted “white power” during the attack.

Link: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/horrific-hate-crime-that-prompted-splc-lawsuit-in-mississippi-concludes-with-final

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Good!

Thanks for posting this update. Finally - someone is going to jail.

[Gothmog]

2. Good

The SPLC does a great job on these issues

[gwheezie]

3. Terrorist cell busted n/t

[marble falls]

4. Finally sentenced. About time.