Last of 10 young white people in racial assault sentenced

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The last of 10 young white people who repeatedly assaulted African-Americans in Mississippi's capital city received the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison today, completing a long-running federal prosecution in the case.

The string of assaults ended in the June 2011 death of autoworker James Craig Anderson, who was beaten and run over by a truck in a hotel parking lot.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate today sentenced Robert Henry Rice of Brandon to 10 years. Rice had pleaded guilty to one felony hate crime charge in January.

The attack on Anderson was the last of a series of forays that a group of white men and women made into Jackson to assault black people. Hotel surveillance video, obtained by The Associated Press and other media outlets, shows a Ford truck back up and then lunge forward at 5:05 a.m. Anderson's shirt is illuminated in the headlights before he disappears under the vehicle next to the curb.

Rice participated in at least three earlier attacks but wasn't present when Anderson died. That meant he could have gotten less than the top sentence of 10 years, because Judge Wingate ruled last week that he had to base Rice's sentence on aggravated assault charges and not Anderson's death.

Sentencing guidelines called for Rice to receive a sentence of seven to nine years in prison, but Judge Wingate gave Rice the maximum sentence of 10 years, saying more time was needed to adequately account for Rice's "long history of perpetrating a reign of terror in Jackson against helpless African-Americans."