2 Men Plead Guilty in 2011 Racial Beatings in Mississippi
A group of young white men and women who killed a black man in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2011 had periodically roamed the city that spring, attacking African Americans at random, and police never heard about it.
Their last attack, before dawn on June 26, 2011, killed 47-year-old auto plant worker James Craig Anderson and sparked a multiyear federal investigation that ended Wednesday after a ninth and tenth person pleaded guilty to felony charges.
What prosecutors said would be the last two pleas came before U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate in Jackson. John Louis Blalack, 20, of Brandon pleaded guilty to two felony hate crimes charges in an agreement with prosecutors. He faces up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $500,000.
Robert Henry Rice, 21, also of Brandon, pleaded guilty to one felony hate crime charge. He faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
More: 2 Men Plead Guilty in 2011 Racial Beatings in Mississippi - New Jersey Herald