FILE - 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)
FILE - Candles spell out the name of Tyre Nichols during a candlelight vigil for Nichols on the anniversary of his death, Jan. 7, 2024, in Memphis. (AP Photo/Karen Pulfer Focht, file)
FILE - In this photo provided by WREG, Tyre Nichols’ stepfather Rodney Wells, center, stands next to a photo of Nichols in the hospital after his arrest, during a protest in Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2023. (Jordan James/WREG via AP)
Former Memphis officers to face second trial in beating death of Tyre Nichols
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) 鈥 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.
FILE - 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)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) 鈥 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 last year.
The beating of Nichols, a Black man, was caught on 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.
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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. for all five officers in the federal case is expected after the state trial.
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.
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. 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鈥 serious injuries.
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Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols鈥 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 showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.
The department is more than 50% Black and Police Chief Cerelyn 鈥淐J鈥 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.
