Deryl Paul Dedmon was born on March 3, 1993, in Brandon, Mississippi. He grew up in a small, predominantly white community within Rankin County. He attended Brandon High School and was considered a quiet but troubled teen. Dedmon had no prior criminal record before the incident that would ultimately define his life. He was 18 years old at the time of the crime, legally an adult, and part of a social circle that included other white teens from the same area. According to reports and investigations, Dedmon was part of a group that openly expressed racist views and often engaged in racially motivated "mischief" and violence. While his upbringing details remain limited publicly, his actions on June 26, 2011, quickly brought national scrutiny to the environment and attitudes of some youth in central Mississippi.

In the early morning hours of June 26, 2011, Deryl Dedmon and a group of white teenagers from Brandon, Mississippi, drove into Jackson, a predominantly Black area, after a night of drinking and partying. Dedmon allegedly told his friends, “Let’s go fuck with some n****rs,” as they headed to Jackson in two vehicles, his green Ford F-250 truck and a white Jeep Cherokee.

The group encountered James Craig Anderson, a 47-year-old Black man, in the parking lot of the Metro Inn. Anderson had lost his car keys and was trying to get into his own vehicle. Members of the group exited their vehicles, beat and robbed Anderson, and then left the scene. But Dedmon got back into his truck and intentionally ran Anderson over, delivering the fatal blow. The violent act was captured on the motel’s security camera. Dedmon reportedly later boasted to friends, “I ran that n****r over.”

Dedmon was arrested on July 6, 2011, and charged with capital murder. His crime shocked the nation and prompted both state and federal investigations. What began as a local murder case quickly turned into a wider civil rights investigation, revealing a conspiracy involving ten young white individuals who had committed multiple hate crimes against Black residents in Jackson from 2011 to 2012. These crimes included physical assaults, using vehicles to intimidate and attempt to injure victims, and the use of slingshots and bottles as weapons.

On March 21, 2012, Dedmon pleaded guilty to murder and federal hate crime charges. The next day, he and accomplices John Aaron Rice and Dylan Butler also pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges. In December 2012, more individuals involved were indicted, including William Montgomery, Joseph Dominick, and Jonathan Gaskamp.

On February 10, 2015, Dedmon was sentenced in federal court to 50 years in prison for his role in the racially motivated attack. This sentence runs concurrently with his two life sentences from the state murder conviction. All involved co-conspirators eventually pleaded guilty and received federal prison terms ranging from 4 to 18 years.

Dedmon is currently serving his sentence at FCI Marianna, a federal prison in Florida (BOP #16507-043). He is not eligible for parole.