John Louis Blalack, 20, and Robert Henry Rice, 24, pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges for their roles in a series of assaults on African Americans based on their race in Jackson in the spring of 2011.
Deryl Dedmon, 22, was sentenced to 50 years, John Rice, 21, was sentenced to 18-1/2 years, and Dylan Butler, 23, received a seven-year sentence for their roles in the beating death of James Anderson.
On February 25, William Kirk Montgomery, 25, present at the hit-and-run, intentional attack that killed Anderson was sentenced to 19 years, while two other men who were part of earlier attacks on African Americans, Joseph Paul Dominick, 22, and Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp, 23, were sentenced to four years each. On April 9, Shelbie Brooke Richards, 21, and Sarah Adelia Graves, 22, were sentenced to the maximum amount under their plea agreements for their role in the death of Anderson. Richards got 8 years and Graves got 5 years.