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More than two years after Tyre Nichols died from injuries sustained during a brutal beating after a traffic stop, three former Memphis, Tennessee, police officers are on trial in state court on second-degree murder charges.
Opening statements began Monday with testimony from Nichols’ heartbroken mother Rowvaughn Wells, who said she didn’t learn about her son’s encounter with Memphis police officers until his death.
“He never made it home to enjoy my sesame chicken,” Wells said of the night of Jan. 7, 2023.
Tadarrius Bean, 26, Demetrius Haley, 32, and Justin Smith, 30, have all pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault, as well as two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct, and one count of official oppression. The state trial follows their federal convictions last year for witness tampering, and acquittals on civil rights charges that carried potential life sentences.
Two other officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., also have been charged but will not stand trial, according to multiple media reports. Martin and Mills are expected to change their not guilty pleas in state court, lawyers involved in the case told the Associated Press.
In 2023, the five Black former Memphis police officers were indicted in federal court after the traffic stop that resulted in the fatal beating of Nichols. Minutes of the deadly assault were captured on police body and surveillance cameras that were shown to jurors on Monday.
Nichols cried out for his mother as the officers repeatedly kicked, used a baton and Tasers, and pepper sprayed him. He was hospitalized for three days before he died from his injuries.
The 29-year-old father’s death sparked mass protests in Memphis and nationwide in 2023, as he became another Black motorist killed by police during a traffic stop. Public outcry and renewed calls for police reform echoed those following George Floyd’s murder in 2020 — yet nearly five years and hundreds of fatal police encounters later, federal legislation to hold law enforcement officers accountable for misconduct has stalled.
Regardless of last year’s federal verdict, Nichols’ family and supporters said they remain committed to seeking justice as Shelby County prosecutors present their case to a jury selected from another county.
“We stand in solidarity with Tyre’s family and the Memphis community as this legal process unfolds, and we will continue to advocate for transparency, accountability, and meaningful reform to prevent such tragedies in the future,” Ben Crump, an attorney for the Nichols’ family, said in a statement on April 24 when jury selection began.
Crump represents the Nichols family in a $550 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Memphis. Last month, the presiding judge approved a request for both sides to begin settlement negotiations.
To ensure a fair and impartial jury, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. granted a defense motion to select jurors from outside Memphis. The jury, drawn from Hamilton County over 300 miles away, will be sequestered for the duration of the trial, which is expected to last two weeks, according to Action News 5.
If convicted in state court of second-degree murder, they face between 15 and 60 years in prison.
All five officers are expected to be sentenced on the federal charges the week of June 16 — a timeline set by a federal judge in January, who said he anticipated the state trial would conclude by then.
The FedEx employee was initially accused of reckless driving — a claim later found to be unsubstantiated — during what prosecutors have called a pretextual traffic stop, according to CNN reporting from January 2024.
Bean’s attorney John Keith Perry said during his opening statements that Nichols was “resisting arrest the whole time” and that the officers “wanted to do their job effectively,” the AP reported.
The five officers were members of a now-disbanded crime suppression team known as the SCORPION Unit. They were all fired from the Memphis Police Department. Bean, Haley, and Smith face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Martin, 33, and Mills, 35, testified against their former colleagues during their federal trial in September 2024 and are expected to do the same in their state case.
Mills pleaded guilty to federal and state charges in exchange for 15 years in prison — the judge will have a final say on his sentencing agreement, prosecutors said. Martin has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.
“We expect that at the appropriate time, Martin will enter a similar plea in state court,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said in a statement in August 2024 following Martin’s federal plea hearing.
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