Three former Memphis officers were acquitted on Wednesday after a state charge, including second-degree murder, in the fatal assault of TyreNichols, after fleeing a traffic stop in 2023.
The ju judge took more than eight hours in two days to discover that Tadarius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith were not innocent on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis. After the ju-search verdict was read, the defendant hugged the lawyer as the parent of a former officer. A relative cried out, “Thank you, yes!”
The three defendants still face years of prospects in prison after being convicted of federal charges last year.
Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, escaped a traffic stop after being pulled from the car, scattered peppers and smashed them with a taser. The blacks also caught up with him, punching, kicking and hitting Nichols with the police baton, had a hard time handcuffing him as they quickly called out from his house for their mother. Nichols passed away on January 10th, 2023, three days after beating.
Footage of be-hit shot, taken with police pole cameras, showed officers discussing and laughing while Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, lifting a volume of calls for police reform in the United States and directing a fierce scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority black city.
Desmond Mills Jr., a former Memphis officer who was also charged with Nichols’ death, testified as a prosecutor’s witness.
Mills and another officer involved in the assault, Emmitt Martin, agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and did not go to trial based on his deal with prosecutors. They also pleaded guilty in federal court pending the sentences of all five officers.
The officer was charged with second-degree murder, worsening attacks, worsening enticement, official misconduct and official repression.
Officers were accused of using unnecessary forces during Nichols’ arrest. They were irritated, angry and full of adrenaline after Nichols fled the traffic stop, prosecutor Paul Hagerman said in a statement.
They have been “overcome by now,” the prosecutor said.
“No one is going to call them monsters,” Hagerman said. “You don’t need monsters to kill a man.”
Three former Memphis officers have been convicted on witnesses tampering with the 2023 fatal assault on TyreNichols.
Prosecutors argued that officers used excessive fatal force when trying to handcuff Nichols and were criminally responsible for each other’s actions. They also said that officers had to step in and stop the be hit and notify the health care workers that Nichols had been hit repeatedly in the head, but they didn’t.
The defense attorney said Martin is the most responsible for the violence.
The defense attorneys tried to refute the accusations that officers used excessive force to conquer Nichols and followed police policies and standards. The defense attorney said the officer who acted most violent was Martin.
Mills testified that he regretted not stopping the assault, which led to Nichols’ death from blunt trauma. Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in his brain, Dr. Marco Ross, a medical inspector who conducted the autopsy, said in court testimony.
When Nichols fought the beans and Smith, who were holding him to the ground, Mills tried to spray Nichols, but he ended up blowing himself.
After attempting to recover, Mills walked to Nichols and slammed his arm three times with the police baton. Mills told prosecutor Paul Hagerman that he was angry at pepper spray and attacked Nichols with the baton.
Mills admitted on his position that he had an obligation to intervene to stop the assault, but did not.
However, Mills also said Nichols was actively resisting arrests and had not followed the order to cuff his hand.
During the trial, defense attorney John Keith Perry asked Mills if he hit Nichols with the baton if Nichols just placed his hand behind his back. Mills said no.
Smith’s attorney, Martin Zumach, asked Mills if officers were safe if the suspect was not handcuffed. Mills said it was not safe in that situation. Nichols was not searched before running from a traffic stop.
Mills admitted that officers were exhausted from fear, but said some of the methods used at Nichols were in compliance with police department policies, including using wrist locks and hitting with batons.
Zummach said that credit and debit cards that did not belong to Nichols were found in his car when they were searched after be hit, and that was the reason why Nichols ran from a traffic stop. The defense argued that if Nichols had allowed him to handcuff himself, no fatal assault would have occurred.
“This is what Emmitt Martin and Tyre Nichols do,” Zumach said.
The defense also suggests that Nichols was on drugs and gave him the power to fight five strong officers. Several mushrooms, including hallucinating psilocybin, testified by TBI agents, were also found in his car. However, toxicology reports show that Nichols only had alcohol and a small amount of marijuana in his system.
Mills admitted that Nichols has never punched or kicked an officer.
The defense also claimed that Bean and Smith were blinded by pepper spray and had tunnel vision when they tried to hold him down, which made them unable to see Nichols strike to the head.
However, the prosecutors pose a skeptical of the allegations by pointing out the comments the defendant made after the assault. According to footage from the scene, Bean said Nichols was “eating” the blow, and Smith said he attacked Nichols with “so many pieces” or punches. Smith also said he “attacked him,” and Haley said “we’d beat that guy,” prosecutor Tanisha Johnson said.
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice said a 17-month investigation showed that the Memphis Police Department was using excessive force and discriminating against black people.
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