Former Memphis officers to face second trial in beating death of Tyre
Nichols
[April 28, 2025]
By ADRIAN SAINZ
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Three former Tennessee police officers will face
an out-of-town jury when their trial in state court starts Monday on
second-degree murder charges in the beating death of Tyre Nichols after
a 2023 traffic stop in Memphis.
Opening statements are expected to begin in the trial of former Memphis
Police Department officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin
Smith, who have pleaded not guilty and already face the prospect of
years behind bars after they were convicted of federal charges last
year.
The beating of Nichols, a Black man, was caught on police video and led
to national protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in
the U.S. and directed intense scrutiny toward the police force in
Memphis, a majority-Black city.
The jury for the state trial was chosen in Hamilton County, which
includes Chattanooga, after Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the case be
heard from people outside of Shelby County, which includes Memphis.
Defense lawyers for the officers had argued intense publicity made
seating a fair jury difficult.
The officers are charged with second degree murder, aggravated assault,
aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
Two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., also have been
charged but will not stand trial with their former colleagues. Martin
and Mills are expected to change their not guilty pleas in state court,
according to lawyers involved in the case. Sentencings for all five
officers in the federal case is expected after the state trial.
Police video showed officers pepper-spraying Nichols, 29, and hitting
him with a Taser before he ran away from the traffic stop on Jan. 7,
2023. The five officers, who all are Black, chased down Nichols and
kicked, punched and hit him with a police baton just steps from his home
as he called out for his mother. The video showed the officers milling
about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled.
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The former Memphis police officers accused of murder in the death of
Tyre Nichols appear with their attorneys at an indictment hearing at
the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center on Feb. 17, 2023, in
Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill, File)
Nichols died three days after the beating. The five officers were
fired, charged in state court and indicted by a federal grand jury
on civil rights and witness tampering charges.
Martin and Mills pleaded guilty to the federal charges under deals
with prosecutors. The other three officers were convicted in October
of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the beating. Bean
and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges of using excessive
force and being indifferent to Nichols’ serious injuries.
Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols’ civil rights causing
death, but he was convicted of two lesser charges of violating his
civil rights causing bodily injury.
In December, the U.S. Justice Department said a 17-month
investigation showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive
force and discriminates against Black people.
The department is more than 50% Black and Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ”
Davis is Black.
The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the
Scorpion Unit that since has been disbanded. The team targeted
drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders with the goal of amassing
arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people.
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