Three former Memphis police officers have been found guilty on some charges in a federal trial stemming from the death of Tyre Nichols in a beating that proved fatal, an incident that sparked national outcry.
All three were charged with violating Nichols’ federal civil rights through excessive force and deliberate indifference to medical needs, but only Demetreus Haley was found guilty of two counts of deprivation of rights resulting in bodily injury, a lesser charge, as well as conspiracy. Haley, Taddarius Bean and Justin Smith were found guilty of obstruction of justice. Bean and Smith were exonerated on the other charges.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented closing arguments in the trial of the three men, who were among the five officers fired from the Memphis Police Department after the January 2023 beating, on Wednesday. The jury, made up of four White men, three White women, four Black women and a Black man, began deliberating earlier Thursday after a nearly monthlong trial.
Throughout the trial, jurors repeatedly watched clips of graphic police video of the beating and traffic stop that preceded it. The video shows officers using pepper spray and a Taser on Nichols, who was Black, before the 29-year-old ran away. The five officers, who also are Black, then punched, kicked and hit him about a block from his home, as he called out for his mother.
As they held Nichols, officers said “hit him” and “beat that man,” prosecutor Forrest Christian said during closing arguments.
“This was not a fight. This was just a beating,” Christian said.
Nichols died three days later. An autopsy report shows Nichols — the father of a boy who is now 7 — died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and elsewhere on his body.
The five officers were part of the Scorpion Unit, which looked for drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders. It was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Two of the officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to depriving Nichols of his civil rights and testified for prosecutors. Haley, Bean and Smith pleaded not guilty to federal charges of excessive force, failure to intervene, and obstructing justice through witness tampering.
Defense lawyers sought to portray Martin as a principal aggressor. They also suggested without evidence that Nichols may have been on drugs — something Christian called “shameful.” The autopsy report showed only low amounts of alcohol and marijuana in his system.
Bean’s attorney, John Keith Perry, told jurors that Nichols ignored commands such as “give me your hands” and said his client followed department policies, saying that “the force was not excessive.”
After the beating, the officers did not tell medical professionals on scene or at the hospital that they had punched and kicked Nichols in the head, witnesses said. They also failed tell their supervisor on the scene and write in required forms about the amount of force used, prosecutors argued.
Martin testified that Nichols was no threat to officers, and discussed an understanding between members of the Scorpion Unit to not tell on each other after they used excessive force. Martin said members of the unit would justify their use of force by exaggerating the person’s actions against them. He also described feeling pressure to make arrests to accumulate “stats” to be able to stay on the street with the unit.
The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.
