In Memphis, Tennessee, jurors were set to start deliberations on Tuesday regarding the trial of three ex-Memphis police officers accused of second-degree murder following the death of Tyre Nichols in January 2023.
During the trial on Monday, a prosecutor and a defense attorney presented closing arguments concerning the cases of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith. These former officers have entered not guilty pleas against state charges, which include second-degree murder. They are already facing potential long prison sentences after being found guilty on federal charges the previous year.
Nichols had attempted to escape a traffic stop on January 7, 2023, after officers forcibly removed him from his vehicle, subjected him to pepper spray, and used a Taser on him. Subsequently, five officers, who are also Black, pursued him, and after catching up, they punched, kicked, and struck Nichols with a baton as they struggled to handcuff him, all while Nichols was calling out for his mother near his residence.
Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, calls for police reforms in the U.S., and intense scrutiny of police 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 that intense publicity made seating a fair jury from Shelby County difficult.
Former Memphis officers Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin also were charged in the case. They have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial. They also pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.
The officers are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Prosecutors have argued that the officers used excessive force in trying to handcuff Nichols. The officers also had a duty to intervene and stop the beating and tell medical personnel that Nichols had been struck in the head, but they failed to do so, prosecutors said.
As Nichols struggled with Bean and Smith, who were holding him on the ground, Mills pepper-sprayed Nichols and hit Nichols three times in the arm with a police baton, he said. Martin punched and kicked Nichols in the head, and Haley also kicked Nichols, as Bean and Smith were restraining him while trying to handcuff him
In her closing argument, prosecutor Melanie Headley said the officers were criminally responsible for Nichols’ death.
“It’s five officers acting together,” Headley said.
Defense attorneys have sought to chip away at accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols. They have argued that Nichols was actively resisting arrest by running away and failing to give his hands to officers so that he could be handcuffed. They also have argued that their use of force complied with police department policies.
Mills testified that he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols’ death three days later from blunt-force trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified that Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain.
John Keith Perry, Bean’s lawyer, said in his closing argument that Nichols ignored commands to give officers his hands dozens of times. Bean was merely trying to handcuff Nichols and he followed his Memphis Police Department training in doing so.
“Bean doesn’t do anything to punish this person,” Perry said.
On Tuesday, lawyers for Haley and Smith will make their closing arguments, and the prosecution will have a chance to make a rebuttal closing argument. The jury will then start deliberating.
The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders to amass arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people
The trial comes months after the U.S. Justice Department said in December that a 17-month investigation found that the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.
