Three former memphis police officers have been found guilty of a number of charges in a federal trial stemming from the death of tire nichols in a a beating that proved fatalan incident that sparked national outrage.
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 and conspiracy. Haley, Taddarius Bean and Justin Smith were found guilty of obstruction of justice. Bean and Smith were acquitted of the other charges.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented closing arguments in the trial of the three men among five officers fired from the Memphis Police Department on Wednesday following the January 2023 assault. The jury, made up of four white men, three white women, four Black women and one Black man, began deliberating Thursday after a nearly month-long trial.
Throughout the trial, jurors repeatedly watched clips of graphic police video of the beating and the 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 are also black, then punched, kicked and punched him about a block from his home as he called for his mother.
While detaining Nichols, officers said “hit him” and “hit that guy,” prosecutor Forrest Christian said during closing arguments.
“This wasn’t a fight. This was just a beating,” Christian said.
Nichols died three days later. An autopsy report shows that Nichols – the father of a boy who is now seven – died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, cuts and bruises on his head and elsewhere on his body.
The five officers were part of the Scorpio unitywho searched for drugs, illegal weapons and violent offenders. It was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Two of the officers, Emmit 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 obstruction of justice by witness tampering.
Defense attorneys tried to portray Martin as one of the main aggressors. They also suggested without evidence that Nichols may have been using drugs — something Christians called “shameful.” The autopsy report showed only small amounts of alcohol and marijuana were present in his system.
Bean’s attorney, John Keith Perry, told jurors that Nichols ignored commands such as “give me your hand” and said his client followed department policy and said “the force was not excessive.”
After the assault, the officers did not tell medical professionals on the scene or at the hospital that they had punched and kicked Nichols in the head, witnesses said. They also failed to notify their on-site supervisor and write in required forms about the amount of force used, prosecutors argued.
Martin testified that Nichols posed no threat to officers, and discussed an agreement among members of the Scorpion Unit not to tell on each other after using excessive force. Martin said members of the unit would justify their use of violence by exaggerating the person’s actions against him/her. He also described feeling pressure to make arrests to gather “statistics” to stay on the streets with the unit.
The five officers were also 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 yet been set.
