Three former Memphis police officers were convicted Thursday of federal witness tampering in connection with the 2023 fatal beating of Tire Nichols, according to NBC News affiliate WMC.
Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Taddarius Bean were accused of depriving Nichols of his rights through excessive force, obstruction of justice through witness tampering and other crimes. They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Haley was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit witness tampering and one count of obstruction of justice for witness tampering. Bean and Smith were found guilty on only one count: obstruction of justice for witness tampering, WMC reported.
Neither man was found guilty of deprivation of rights under the color of law for excessive force and for failure to intervene or deliberate indifference, but Haley was convicted of both on the lesser charges, which involved bodily harm, WMC reported.
The judge ordered the arrest of the officers. He planned to hold a hearing Monday to hear from attorneys about releasing them pending sentencing.
The witness tampering charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years. The civil rights charge against Haley carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. They could have faced life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges.
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, told reporters as she left the courthouse that she was in shock but happy that all the men had been convicted of at least one charge.
“They’ve all been convicted of something and they’re all going to jail. That’s how I feel,” Wells said. “This has been a long journey for the family.”
Two other former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to the same charges.
Mills took a plea deal in which prosecutors are seeking up to 15 years in prison.
Martin testified that Nichols was “helpless” as officers beat him, and that the officers then understood that “they weren’t going to tell anything about me, and I wasn’t going to tell them anything.” Under his plea deal, prosecutors will propose a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
Prosecutors accused the former officers of viciously beating Nichols, 29, after a traffic stop on Jan. 7, 2023, even though surveillance footage of the attack showed Nichols posed no threat to officers.
“They stood by his dying body and laughed,” one of the prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Rogers, told the jury during opening statements. Then “they silently agreed to lie about it to cover it up.”
An attorney for Bean said the officers were only trying to subdue a suspect who was not following officers’ instructions.
Nichols was arrested for reckless driving, but the Memphis police chief said there was no evidence to support the charge.
Mills, who took a plea deal in which prosecutors asked for up to 15 years in prison, testified against his former colleagues during the four-week trial and acknowledged hitting Nichols three times with his baton. The former officer cried as prosecutors showed body camera footage of other officers punching and kicking Nichols.
“I left his child fatherless,” Mills said of Nichols. “I’m sorry.”
Nichols, who had a young son, died in a hospital three days after the assault. An autopsy report listed the cause of death as blows to the head.
The five officers, who were members of a crime-fighting team called the Scorpion Unit, were fired after Nichols’ death for violating police department policy. Their unit was disbanded.
Federal prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert asked the jury Wednesday to find the suspects guilty on all counts.
She argued that the officers at the heart of the case acted together and deliberately assisted in the attack that killed Nichols, NBC affiliate WMC of Memphis reported.
“Five officers defeated Tire Nichols. Five officers let him die and five officers covered it up,” she said.
Bean’s attorney, John Keith Perry, said there was reasonable doubt about each of the crimes his client was accused of.
Haley’s attorney, Stephen Leffler, disputed the prosecutor’s claim that Nichols never posed a threat to officers and said it was the blows from Martin, Bean and Smith that killed Nichols, not Haley, WMC reported Wednesday.
Martin testified that Nichols was “helpless” as officers beat him, and that the officers then understood that “they weren’t going to tell anything about me, and I wasn’t going to tell them anything.” Under his plea deal, prosecutors will propose a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
The officers are also charged in state court with second-degree murder. They pleaded not guilty, although Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas to guilty.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
