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"Another Rankin County man has pleaded guilty in connection with a Mississippi hate crime case.Joseph Paul Dominick, 21, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Jackson to one count of conspiracy to commit a hate crime.Prosecutors said Dominick was part of a greater conspiracy that involved several other white men who, beginning in the spring of 2011, targeted African-American men by throwing beer bottles at them and using a slingshot loaded with ball bearings to do them harm. Federal prosecutors said the men would often boast about the racially motivated attacks.Five others have already pleaded guilty in connection with the case that was sparked by the 2011 death of James Craig Anderson. Anderson, 47, was run down by a pickup truck June 26, 2011 outside Metro Inn on Ellis Avenue.Deryl Dedmon, who prosecutors said was the driver of the pickup truck, Dylan Butler, 21, and John Aaron Rice, 19, pleaded guilty last year in U.S. District Court and are set to be sentenced later this year. Dedmon, 20, also pleaded guilty to state murder and hate-crime charges in Hinds County and was sentenced to life in prison.Last month, two other men, William Kirk Montgomery, 23, and Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp, 20, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and federal hate-crime charges.The men had gathered the night Anderson was killed for Dominick's birthday party, prosecutors said. But neither Dominick nor Gaskamp went to Jackson that night, prosecutors said.Dominick appeared Thursday before U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves. He was walked into the courtroom with his wife of about four months and his parents. Dominick kissed them and then went to sit with his attorney.Prosecutors read the accusations against Dominick and Reeves asked if he agreed. Dominick paused and said yes, at which point his family reacted as if they disagreed by shaking their heads.At the end of the hearing, Reeves told Dominick that he was not in a position to change the direction of his life right now, but has the ability to move in a different direction, 16 WAPT's Erin Kelly reported.After the hearing, Dominick's parents denied his involvement in the hate crimes conspiracy.\"I want to say a big apology to that family who lost their loved ones on that night. When I read it the next day, I threw up because I knew those kids. But I was the one who called Joseph and told him about it. He had no idea,\" said Dominick's mother, Cindy. \"All he did that night was celebrate his birthday. He said no to those kids. He did not go. So, he had nothing to do with what's going on here.\"The Clarion-Ledger reported that Dominick is the former boyfriend of \"American Idol\" finalist Skylar Laine, of Brandon. The newspaper cited Life &amp; Style magazine in reporting that the high school sweethearts broke up in May. Dominick married his wife in September, his mother said.Anderson's family also attended the hearing.\"We want everybody in jail,\" said Anderson's sister, Barbara Anderson Young. \"Those people that were there and those that weren't.\"Cindy Dominick said her son went to school with the other men charged in the case.Dominick faces five years in prison and/or a $150,000 fine upon sentencing. He was placed in federal custody after Thursday's guilty plea.\"We hope that today\u2019s guilty plea provides further assurance to the victim\u2019s family and to the community that the Department of Justice will leave no stone unturned to find those responsible for these senseless racially motivated attacks,\" said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. \"Our investigation is ongoing, and we will continue to pursue those who participated in this violent conspiracy, which culminated in the tragic death of James Craig Anderson.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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