Second Memphis police officer pleads guilty in death of Tyre Nichols

[August 24, 2024]  By Daniel Trotta
 
(Reuters) -A second former Memphis police officer pleaded guilty on Friday to federal charges in the death of Black motorist Tyre Nichols, whose videotaped beating by five Black officers in January 2023 shocked the United States. 

Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was pulled over while driving and died three days later, is beaten by Memphis Police Department officers on January 7, 2023, in this screen grab from a video released by Memphis Police Department on January 27, 2023. Memphis Police Department/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Emmitt Martin III, one of five fired officers facing criminal charges, was also expected to plead guilty to related Tennessee state charges, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Martin pleaded guilty to two of the four federal counts against him - one for depriving Nichols' civil rights, and another for witness tampering - and agreed to cooperate with the investigation, according to his plea agreement filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

That raises the possibility he may testify against fellow former officers, as Martin admitted to conspiring with the others to provide a misleading account of the beating.

"Driven by anger, Emmitt Martin used excessive force on Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023. Driven by fear, he tried to cover it up. Today, in open court, he accepted responsibility for what he did," defense attorney Stephen Ross Johnson said in an email. Johnson declined to say whether Martin would testify against others.

In November, another fired Memphis police officer, Desmond Mills, pleaded guilty to federal charges and agreed to plead guilty to related Tennessee state charges, part of a deal in which he pledged to cooperate with both state and federal prosecutions, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office said at the time.

In exchange for his guilty plea, Mills, who was facing life in prison, agreed to a 15-year sentence with state and federal prosecutors, the statement said.

Under Martin's deal, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than 40 years, and that Martin may seek a term of less than that.

Martin and Mills were among five officers who had previously pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights offenses and state charges of second-degree murder.

The federal trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 9. The state trial is on hold while the federal case develops.

The case is one of a series raising the national debate about racism and police brutality in the United States.

Police video showed the officers kicked, punched, pepper-sprayed and struck Nichols with a baton on Jan. 7, 2023. Nichols, 29, died in hospital three days later.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Aurora Ellis and William Mallard)

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