Murder of James Craig Anderson
James Craig Anderson was a 49-year-old African American who was murdered in a hate crime in Jackson, Mississippi on June 26, 2011, by 18-year old Deryl Dedmon, who drove his pick-up truck over the older man. According to police, before being killed, Anderson was robbed and repeatedly beaten by a group of white teenagers, including Dedmon and his friends. The event was recorded on a security camera. The FBI conducted a high-profile civil rights investigation of Anderson's murder; according to authorities, his death was intentional and racially motivated. Anderson's family asked that the perpetrators be spared the death penalty. Dedmon was convicted and sentenced to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment for the murder.In 2012, Dedmon pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges, as did John Rice, Dylan Butler, Jonathan Gaskamp and William Montgomery. The five were to be sentenced later.