Three former police officers were acquitted in state court on Wednesday on all charges against them, including a second-degree murder, in the death of TireNichols, a black man whose brutal assault in 2023.
It was the second trial of three men accused of fatally defeating Mr. Nichols, a FedEx employee who was back from work when he was stopped by an officer more than two years ago.
The verdict was in contrast to the outcome of the defendant's federal trial last fall. The three were then found guilty of tampering by witnesses, but found them acquitted of more serious charges and violated civil rights by causing Nichols' death. The federal ju judge was also found guilty of violating Nichols' civil rights by causing physical injuries.
A ju-degree in a state case, sitting from the Chattanooga area of ​​eastern Tennessee to secure a state trial, deliberated more than eight hours after a seven-day trial in the state court. In addition to second degree murder, the accusations included aggravation of the lunatics, official misconduct and formal repression.
A federal ruling is expected later this year. Nichols' family sued the city of Memphis and the police department in an ongoing civil lawsuit.
The three former officers were emotional after the verdict was read on Wednesday, but Haley appeared to be crying. Mr. Nichols' mother, Lowvawn Wells, testified about his son's persistent injuries but showed no emotion. She and her husband left the court without comment.
“Today's verdict is a catastrophic miscarriage of justice,” said Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, two civil rights lawyers who represented Mr Nichols' family, in a statement. They added, “We are furious and we know we're not alone.”
Surveillance and body camera footage from January 7, 2023 showed five officers restraining, kicking or panmaring Mr. Nichols after a traffic stop despite efforts to comply with the active order. No officers reported any violence. At one point, they hurt Mr. Nichols and slammed him into a police car.
He passed away three days later, leaving behind a young child.
The attack was widely criticized as another example of a black man facing excessive force in the hands of law enforcement. All the officers were also black.
Memphis officials quickly fired them, disciplining and firing many other deputies, paramedics and police officers. They also disbanded the elite policing unit, which five officers belonged to.
A Justice Department investigation that began after Nichols' death found that police departments engaged in patterns of excessive violence and discriminatory treatment of black people, including children. Over a third of Tennessee's black population lives in Memphis.
However, state ju apprentices analyzed the behavior of individual officers. When Mr. Nichols was first stopped, he chased after him as he fled.
Prosecutors described the tragedy supported by anger, adrenaline and frustration. The core of their cases was rooted in body cameras and surveillance video, and the severity of Nichols' injuries.
“Can a good person do something bad?” Shelby County district attorney Melanie Headley asks in a closing statement. “That night, on January 7, 2023, these three officers did something bad. And when Tyre cried out for help, they didn't do anything. No one helped him.”
Prosecutors at both trials said Nichols was speeding up on his way home. When officers stopped him, they pulled him out of the car, sprayed peppers and fired him with a stun gun before Mr. Nichols broke freely and ran towards his mother's house.
More officers caught up with him, restraining him, kicking him and hit him with the baton.
The lawyer plays the video over and over again, stops and begins to identify the defendant, and begins to scrutinize each action. Punches that the executives called “Heymaker,” kicks, strikes, commentary.
Two former officers, Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin III, have pleas for guilty in federal court. Both men pleaded guilty to felony charges of obstructing justice and obstructing excessive force.
Only Mills testified in the state case as part of a judicial agreement with the state. Prosecutors recommend that he serve both sentences at the same time. It remains unclear whether Martin's state case will go to trial.
“It was a bad situation and I was trying to get out of trouble,” Mills said when he pushed for reasons why he didn't immediately disclose what happened to Nichols. “I knew it was really bad.”
The defense attorney tried to use Mills' testimony to change liability for the seriousness of the assault from his client. And when Martin lacked in the trial, and lost his violent presence in both scenes, they highlighted his role in the atrocities.
Martin Zumach, Smith's lawyer, said: He added: “I will beg for this 12 ju umpire to stop the misery that Justin Smith has been experiencing.”
Repeatedly, lawyers for Bean, Haley and Smith disregarded their roles and framed their actions as appropriate responses to unknown suspects who fled the police.
“It's not the time they're abusing badges and trying to get out there and prove the point or kill someone,” said Mr. Bean's lawyer, John Keith Perry.
Bean and Smith's lawyers summoned witnesses for the character, claiming that the accused was a distinguished member of the police. And they tried to throw Mr. Nichols. Nichols attempted to throw at him a terrifying opponent who could resist a large number of police officers, with a small amount of marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and a stolen ID card.
“It's like the really tragic part of this whole case,” said Stephen R. Loeffler, Haley's lawyer. “When Mr. Nichols got the blue light and submitted it to officers' questioning, they wouldn't arrest him.”
It was one of those arguments that seemed to resonate with the ju umpire, most of which were white. After the verdict was read, all three former officers accepted the lawyer and each other. At least one family member could be heard screaming “Thank you, yes” outside the courtroom.
