MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Three former Memphis officers were convicted Thursday of charges of witness tampering in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, and two were acquitted of federal civil rights violations in a death that sparked national protests and calls for broad changes in policing.
Jurors deliberated for about six hours before coming back with a mixed verdict for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith guilty of witness tampering.
All of them were convicted of at least one charge, but Bean and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges. Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols’ civil rights causing death, but convicted of the lesser charge of violating his civil right causing bodily injury.
Five officers were charged in Nichols’ death, but two pleaded guilty and testified against members of their old crime suppression unit, eliminating any defense strategy that would have relied on them sticking together. Jurors repeatedly watched graphic clips from police video that showed the officers punch and kick Nichols and hit him with a police baton just steps from his home, as the 29-year-old called out for his mother.
The witness tampering charges carry possible sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors argued that Nichols was beaten for running from a traffic stop, saying it was part of a common police practice referred to in officer slang a “street tax” or a run tax.” They said the officers lied — to a supervisor, to medical professionals attending to Nichols and in required written reports — about the extent of the force they used.
Nichols, who was Black, ran from the traffic stop despite being hit with pepper spray and a Taser. The five officers, who were fired after the beating, also are Black.
Some of the most emotional testimony at trial came from one of the officers, Desmond Mills, who took a plea deal in which prosecutors call for up to 15 years in prison. He testified in tears that he was sorry for the beating, that he left Nichols’ young son fatherless and that he wishes he stopped the punches. Later, he testified that he went along with a cover-up in hopes that Nichols would survive and the whole thing would “blow over.”
Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating. His son is now 7 years old.
The other officer who reached a deal with prosecutors, Emmitt Martin, testified that Nichols was “helpless” while officers pummeled him, and that afterward the officers understood “they weren’t going to tell on me, and I wasn’t going to tell on them.” Under his plea agreement, prosecutors will suggest a prison sentence of up to 40 years.
Defense attorneys questioned whether the officers were properly trained. They also pointed to Martin, who acknowledged punching and kicking Nichols in the upper torso and head, as a principal aggressor.
The police video shows the officers milling about and talking as Nichols struggles with his injuries. An autopsy report shows he died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and other areas.
The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty, although Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.
