Murder of James Craig Anderson

James Craig Anderson was a 47-year-old American man who was murdered in a hate crime in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 26, 2011, by 18-year-old Deryl Dedmon of Brandon. At the time of his death, Anderson was working on the assembly line at the Nissan plant in Canton, and raising an adopted son with his partner.

According to police, Dedmon and his friends, a group of white teenagers, robbed and repeatedly beat Anderson before Dedmon ran him over, causing fatal injuries. A motel security camera showed Dedmon and his associates, as well as Dedmon running Anderson over with his truck.

The FBI conducted a high-profile civil rights investigation of Anderson's murder; it led to indictments of 10 persons, including Dedmon, for a conspiracy of several hate crimes against African Americans in Jackson committed from the spring of 2011 to March 2012. Anderson's murder was classified as a racially motivated hate crime. Eventually, all 10 persons were indicted for various combinations of these crimes. They each pleaded guilty and received federal sentences.

Anderson's family asked that the perpetrators of the murder be spared the death penalty. Dedmon was convicted of murder in state court in 2012 and sentenced to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment.

In March 2012, Dedmon, John Rice and Dylan Butler pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges. In December 2012, William Kirk Montgomery and Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp (Born Jonathan Kyle Holton) also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and federal hate crimes for their roles, as well. They were among the 10 indicted for multiple attacks against African Americans in Jackson. On February 10, 2015, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves sentenced Dedmon to 50 years in prison, Rice to 18+1⁄2 years, and Butler to 7 years for their roles in the hate crime. Their federal sentences run concurrently to additional state ones, with the defendants not eligible for parole.

James Craig Anderson was born on June 30, 1963, in Holmes County, Mississippi. His mother is Annzora Anderson. His father died when Anderson was young. Anderson had a sister, Barbara Anderson Young, and two brothers, Louis and Edward J. Anderson. They attended local schools.

Anderson later moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he participated in church and was known for his tenor. For seventeen years he had been in a relationship with James Bradfield and was helping him rear a young relative for whom the latter was guardian. In the seven years prior to his death, Anderson had been working on the assembly line at the Nissan plant in the Jackson suburb of Canton, Mississippi.

A group of young white men and women were drinking and partying in the small town of Puckett in Rankin County, Mississippi. According to a lawyer representing one (or more) of the perpetrators, they decided to go buy more beer in a location where stores were open later at night. According to law enforcement officials, Deryl Dedmon, an 18-year-old white man from the Jackson suburb of Brandon, Mississippi, led the group in planning to attack blacks in Jackson. They talked about collecting bottles to throw at people. Dedmon said to friends, "Let's go fuck with some niggers." The group split up between Dedmon's green 1998 Ford F-250 truck and a white Jeep Cherokee. They each drove 16 miles (26 km) west on Interstate 20 to a predominantly black area on the western edge of Jackson.