Closing arguments expected in trial of 3 former Memphis officers charged in Tire Nichols’ death

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Closing arguments were expected Tuesday in the federal trial of three former Memphis police officers accused of violating Tire Nichols’ civil rights in a fatal beating following a 2023 traffic stop .

Lawyers for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith rested their cases Monday after each called experts during previous days of testimony to try to combat prosecutors’ arguments that the officers used excessive force against Nichols, did not intervene and failed to say it. their supervisors and medical staff about the extent of the beating.

Police video shows five officers, all black, punched, kicked and punched Nichols, who was also black, about a block from his home as he called his mother. Two of the officers, Desmond Mills and Emmitt Martin. pleaded guilty and testified for prosecutors.

Nichols died on January 10, 2023, three days after being beaten. An autopsy report shows that Nichols – the father of a boy now 7 years old – died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, as well as cuts and bruises to the head and elsewhere on the body.

The five officers were part of the Scorpion Unit, which searched for drugs, illegal weapons and violent offenders. It was disbanded after Nichols’ death.

Officers used pepper spray and a Taser on Nichols, who was black, during a traffic stop, but the 29-year-old man fled, according to police video. Prosecutors argued that the officers beat Nichols because he showed up, saying it was part of a common police practice called in officer slang the “street tax” or “race tax.” . »

Haley, Bean and Smith have pleaded not guilty to federal charges of excessive force, failure to intervene and obstruction of justice by witness tampering. They face life in prison if found guilty.

The five officers were also charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. Mills and Martin should modify their arguments. A trial date in state court has not been set.

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Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.