JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Sentencing dates have been set for all 10 people who pleaded guilty to charges from the hate crimes investigation stemming from the death of James Craig Anderson.
Those final court appearances are likely to wrap up investigations and prosecutions that began after Anderson was beaten and run over by a truck on June 26, 2011. The inquiry that followed revealed a group of young white people had been coming to Jackson to harass and assault African-Americans. In a series of forays, prosecutors say the group threw beer bottles at people, shot ball bearings from a slingshot and tried to run someone down.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves is scheduled to sentence Deryl Paul Dedmon, John Aaron Rice and Dylan Wade Butler on Feb. 10. The three pleaded guilty in March 2012 to one count of conspiracy and one count of committing a hate crime. Each faces a potential sentence of life in prison for the hate crime charge, and up to five years on the conspiracy charge.
Dedmon, who assaulted Anderson and drove the truck that ran him over, pleaded guilty to two state charges in 2012 and received life sentences on each.
Reeves will sentence Joseph Paul Dominick, William Kirk Montgomery and Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp on Feb. 25. Dominick pleaded guilty to conspiracy in 2013 and faces five years in prison. Montgomery, who pleaded guilty in 2012, faces life in prison on a hate crime charge and five years on conspiracy. Gaskamp, who wasn't present the night Anderson died, pleaded guilty in 2012. He faces five years in prison for conspiracy and 10 years on a hate crime charge.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate will sentence four people:
— Sarah Adelia Graves, who pleaded guilty in December, faces five years in prison on a conspiracy charge at sentencing April 9.
— Shelbie Brooke Richards, who pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy and concealing the crime by lying to police, faces eight years in prison at sentencing April 16.
— John Louis Blalack, who pleaded guilty Jan. 7 to two hate crimes charges, faces 20 years in prison at sentencing April 23.
— Robert Henry Rice, who pleaded guilty Jan. 7 to one hate crime charge, faces 10 years in prison at sentencing April 30.
Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More like this story
Support our reporting -- Follow the MFP.
