Three young white men were sentenced to federal prison on Tuesday for conspiring to attack black people and killing a 47-year-old car plant worker in Jackson, Mississippi in 2011. The three culprits, who are all from Brandon, Mississippi, admitted that they planned to hunt and attack black people on the night that they beat, ran over and killed James Craig Anderson.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves sentenced 22-year-old Deryl Paul Dedmon to 50 years; 21-year-old John Aaron Rice to a little over 18 years; and 23-year-old Dylan Wade Butler to 7 years in prison for their hate crime, reports The Associated Press.

According to federal prosecutors, the men specifically targeted homeless or drunk black people in order to decrease the risk of the attacks being reported to police.

"The defendants targeted African-American people they perceived as vulnerable for heinous and violent assaults -- hate crimes, motivated solely by race, that shook an entire community and claimed the life of an innocent man," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement, according to NBC News. "These sentences bring a fitting end to the case against these three men. Although nothing can erase the grievous harms inflicted, or ease the grief of the victim's friends and loved ones, this outcome holds those responsible for these horrific crimes fully to account."

Dedmon and Rice beat up Anderson in a motel parking lot in the early morning hours of June 26. Surveillance video also shows Dedmon running over and killing the victim.

Following the attack, both a passenger in their Jeep and Dedmon yelled, "White Power!" prosecutors said.

"What these people did was ugly, painful and sad and criminal," said Judge Reeves.

Barbara Anderson Young said her brother's death came "at the hands of these strangers with eyes full of hatred." She added that her brother "helplessly fought to stay alive."

"My God have mercy on your sinful souls," Anderson said.

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