Last adult to be sentenced in Mississippi racial assaults

By JEFF AMY
Associated Press

RiceJACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The last of 10 young white adults who repeatedly assaulted black people in Mississippi’s capital city is set for sentencing Friday.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate is scheduled to sentence Robert Henry Rice of Brandon.

Rice pleaded guilty to one felony hate crime charge in January and faces up to 10 years in prison.

Autoworker James Craig Anderson died in June 2011 after being beaten and run over by a truck. A group of white men and women made multiple forays into Jackson to assault black people.

Rice participated in at least three earlier attacks, but wasn’t present when Anderson died.

Wingate said last week that he’ll base Rice’s sentence on aggravated assault charges and not Anderson’s death. Officials then had to recalculate Rice’s proposed sentence.