Back in 2011, a mob of young white people took to streets of Jackson, Miss. and randomly selected Black auto plant worker James Anderson in what would become a fatal attack. Three more men in the group were sentenced in the case, joining three other men and two women who were charged earlier in the month.
On Wednesday (Feb. 25), U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi, Carlton W. Reeves handed down sentences to William Kirk Montgomery, 25, Joseph Paul Dominick, 22, and Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp, 23. Montgomery was sentenced to 19 and a half years for his role in leading the mob which lead to the mob-styled death of Anderson.
The Associated Press has more:
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves on Wednesday sentenced 25-year-old William Kirk Montgomery to 19 ½ years for his role in the attacks in the spring of 2011 that climaxed with the death of 47-year-old auto plant worker James Craig Anderson. Two other men who were part of earlier outings but not present that night — 22-year-old Joseph Paul Dominick and 23-year-old Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp — got four-year sentences.
The three men, like the seven other defendants in the case, had pleaded guilty earlier.
Anderson’s death came on the last of a series of forays to what the group called “Jafrica” — a combination of Jackson and Africa — to assault black people. It ended in a hotel parking lot where the group spotted Anderson, who appeared to be intoxicated. Montgomery and six others were present as John Aaron Rice and Deryl Paul Dedmon beat Anderson. As Dedmon left in his truck, he ran over Anderson, inflicting fatal injuries.
The trio all expressed remorse to the Anderson family for their crimes. Dominck and Gaskamp, who were not present when Anderson was beaten, run over by a vehicle, and murdered, both received four years.
Judge Reeves, a Black man, turned heads earlier this month after he delivered a lengthy speech regarding the practice of lynching and what was known as “n*gger hunts” in the Deep South. Reeves read the speech on Feb. 10 during the sentencing of three other men in the Anderson murder case.
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Photo: Family Photo
