3 officers convicted in Tyre Nichols fatal beating, 2 of them acquitted of civil rights charges
CTV
Three former Memphis officers were convicted Thursday of charges of witness tampering in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, and two were acquitted of federal civil rights violations in a death that sparked national protests and calls for broad changes in policing.
Three former Memphis officers were convicted Thursday of charges of witness tampering in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, and two were acquitted of federal civil rights violations in a death that sparked national protests and calls for broad changes in policing.
Jurors deliberated for about six hours before coming back with the mixed verdict for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith.
All of them were convicted of at least one charge, but Bean and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges. Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols' civil rights causing death, but convicted of the lesser charge of violating his civil rights causing bodily injury.
The court remained silent as the verdicts were being read.
The judge ordered the officers to be taken into custody, but he planned to hold a hearing Monday to hear from the defence lawyers about releasing them pending sentencing. The witness tampering charges carry possible sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, told The Associated Press outside the courtroom: "A win is a win. They're all going to jail."
Five officers were charged in Nichols' death, but two pleaded guilty and testified against members of their old crime suppression unit, eliminating any defence strategy that would have relied on them sticking together. Jurors repeatedly watched graphic clips from police video that showed the officers punch and kick Nichols and hit him with a police baton just steps from his home, as the 29-year-old called out for his mother.
