Three former Memphis police officers charged over the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols following a traffic stop in 2023 have been found guilty on some counts and acquitted on others.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who are all Black, were accused of violating the 29-year-old’s civil rights during the killing in which they punched, kicked and hit him after dragging him from his car around a block from his home as he called out for his mother.
The trio were charged with federal charges of excessive force, failure to intervene, and obstructing justice through witness tampering, alongside two other former officers, Desmond Mills and Emmitt Martin, who previously pleaded guilty and testified for prosecutors at the trial.
After a nearly month-long trial and approximately seven hours of deliberation, all three men were found guilty of witness tampering.
Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols’ civil rights causing death, but convicted of the lesser charge of violating his civil rights causing bodily injury. Bean and Smith were acquitted of all civil rights charges.
The witness tampering charges carry possible sentences of up to 20 years in prison, while the civil rights charge against Nichols carries up to 10 years in prison. The judge ordered the three men held in custody for the time being, pending a hearing on Monday.
Speaking to reporters outside court after the verdicts were returned, Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said: “This has been a long journey for our family. I’m still in shock … but we’re happy that they have been convicted.”
His stepfather, Rodney Wells, added: “We are all elated, we are very, very happy that these guys have been put in jail – this is a long time coming. We are so very proud that all of them are going to jail.
“We will need to wait on the sentencing to know what their total time will be, but it was a very good day for our family.”
The Nichols family is suing the officers and the city of Memphis for $550m.
Nichols died on January 10, 2023, three days after the beating, much of which was caught on camera. An autopsy report showed Nichols – the father of a boy who is now seven – died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises to his head and elsewhere on his body.
The officers used pepper spray and a Taser on Nichols, a FedEx employee, during the traffic stop, but the 29-year-old ran away, police video showed, prompting the officers to give chase and continue the beating once they caught him.
Body camera footage captured some of the officers laughing as Nichols lay slumped against a car in the street.
All five officers were fired following the brutal incident. They were with the Scorpion Unit, which was tasked with looking for drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders. It was disbanded after Nichols’ death amid public outrage over the officers’ actions.
In closing arguments, delivered on Wednesday, prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert told jurors the officers wanted to punish Nichols after he ran from the traffic stop and thought they could get away with it.
“They wanted it to be a beatdown. That’s what it was,” Gilbert said.
At trial, prosecutors argued that the beating reflected a common police practice known in officer slang as the “street tax” or “run tax.” Gilbert said the officers had laughed and bragged about hitting Nichols, then lied to their supervisor and medical personnel to protect themselves.
“They chose their own comfort and convenience over Mr Nichols’ life,” she said.
Bean, Haley and Smith didn’t testify in their defense. They each called experts to try to combat arguments they had used excessive force against Nichols, didn’t intervene, and failed to tell their supervisors and medical personnel about the extent of the beating.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Nichols’ family, said that there should be “no favoritism” for the men “just because they have a gun and a badge.”
The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. A trial date in state court has not been set.
