Hates Crime in Mississippi On February 10, 2015 three white men in Mississippi pleaded guilty to a hate crime, in which they received federal sentences between 7 and 50 years. The men pleaded guilty to committing the hate crime of beating a black man to death and running him over. Deryl Dedmon used a truck to ran over James Craig Anderson in a hotel parking lot in 2011. As a result of his actions, Dedmon received a 50-year federal prison sentence. The other two individuals, John Rice and Dylan Butler, only received a seven-year sentence for their role in the attacks on Anderson. Additionally, seven more people who had taken place in the attacks were awaiting sentences. All three men that received sentences were from the suburban area of Brandon, Mississippi, and would visit Jackson, Mississippi to attack black people. Their actions were ruthless, as they would use weapons such as beer bottles and slingshots according to authorities. …show more content…
During this gruesome beating, it was Dedmon who shouted “White power”, as a response to some encouragement from others. Then Dedmon got into his truck and deliberately ran over Anderson, thus killing him. Anderson was 47 years old, and his sister told the three men at the sentencing, "May God have mercy on your sin-sick souls." The federal statute that all three men violated were the Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2009. Almost 4 years after her brother was murdered, Dedmon’s violence would be met with the punishment of 50 years in prison that runs in concurrence with his two life state