Deryl Dedmon was eighteen years old from Alabama when he would murder a man because of the color of his skin
According to court documents Deryl Dedmon and two others were driving when they saw James Craig Anderson and decided to attack him because he was black. The three would beat Anderson until he was unconscious
Deryl Dedmon would get back into his truck and would run over James Craig Anderson causing his death
Deryl Dedmon would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison
Due to his conviction Deryl Dedmon is incarcerated within the Federal Prison System
Deryl Dedmon Photos
Deryl Dedmon FAQ
Where is Deryl Dedmon now
Deryl Dedmon is currently incarcerated at Otisville FCI
When is Deryl Dedmon release date
Deryl Dedmon is serving life without parole
Deryl Dedmon Sentencing
Deryl Dedmon, 19, received two concurrent life sentences for the racially motivated murder of 49-year-old James Craig Anderson, who died after being beaten and mowed down in a motel parking lot last year.
Dedmon’s admission that he killed Anderson because of his race doubled the teen’s penalty under the state’s hate crime statute.
“I was young, I was dumb, I was ignorant,” Dedmon said during his court hearing in Jackson. “I was full of hatred.”
The sentencing came as the shooting death of a black teenager by a neighborhood watch captain in Florida has again put a national spotlight on the issue of minorities being targeted due to the color of their skin.
Anderson, a Nissan auto worker, was returning to his car before dawn on June 26 when he was confronted by a group of white teenagers in a motel parking lot.
The teens had been drinking at a birthday party and drove to Jackson specifically to harass African-Americans, said Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Scott Rogillio.
Anderson was physically attacked by the group before Dedmon deliberately ran over him with a Ford F-250 truck, Rogillio said. Anderson died at the scene.
Dedmon yelled “white power” during the attack, Rogillio said.
“Your prejudice has brought a great stain on the state of Mississippi,” Circuit Court Judge Jeff Weill Sr. told Dedmon.
Mississippi has a long legacy of racial discrimination and was a focal point of Civil Rights activity during the 1960s and since. The racist Ku Klux Klan was prominent in the state for decades and remnants of the group remain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Craig_Anderson
