Three former Memphis, Tennessee, police officers were sentenced Thursday on federal witness tampering charges in connection with the 2023 beating and death of Tire Nichols.
Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Ta’Darius Bean are accused of depriving Nichols of his rights by excessive force and obstructing justice by witness tampering and other crimes. They pleaded not guilty.
Haley was convicted of one count of conspiracy to tamper with a witness and one count of obstruction of justice with witness tampering. Bean and Smith were found guilty of only one count of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
Although Mr. Haley was not found guilty of any of the charges of excessive force and deprivation of rights under the law for failure to intervene or willful indifference, Mr. Haley was found guilty of each of the misdemeanor charges of assault with bodily injury. Convicted.
The judge ordered the officers to take him into custody. He was scheduled to hold a hearing Monday to hear from his defense attorney about being released pending sentencing.
The witness tampering charge carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The civil rights charges against Haley carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. They could have received life sentences if convicted of the most severe charges.
Nichols’ mother, Louvaughn Wells, told reporters as she left the courtroom that she was shocked but pleased that all the men had been found guilty of at least one crime. .
“They’ve all been convicted of something and they’re all going to go to prison, that’s how I feel,” Wells said. “This has been a long journey for our family.”
Two other former police officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., also pleaded guilty to similar charges.
Mr. Mills accepted a plea deal in which prosecutors called for up to 15 years in prison.
Martin testified that Nichols was “helpless” while the officers beat him, and that the officers then said, “They weren’t going to press charges against me, and I wasn’t going to press charges against them. He testified that he understood that. Under his plea agreement, prosecutors plan to suggest a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
Prosecutors have accused the former officers of violently assaulting Nichols, 29, after a traffic stop on January 7, 2023. Even though body camera footage of the assault showed Nichols posed no threat to them.
“They stood by the dying body and laughed,” one of the prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Rogers, told jurors in her opening statement. And “they tacitly agreed to lie to cover it up.”
Bean’s attorney said the officers were only trying to subdue the suspect, who was not following officers’ commands.
Nichols was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving, but the Memphis Police Chief said there was no evidence to support the charge.
Mr Mills testified against a former colleague during the four-week trial and admitted to hitting Mr Nichols three times with a baton. He cried as prosecutors showed him body camera footage of other officers punching and kicking Nichols.
“I left his child without a father,” Mills said of Nichols. “sorry.”
Nichols had a young son, who died in hospital three days after the assault. The autopsy report listed his cause of death as a blow to the head.
The five officers were members of a crime-fighting team known as the Scorpion Unit and were fired after Nichols’ death for violating department policy. Their troops were disbanded.
Federal prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert on Wednesday asked the jury to find the defendant guilty on all charges.
She alleged that the officers at the center of the incident cooperated and knowingly aided and abetted the assault that killed Nichols, WMC reported.
“Five officers beat Tire Nichols. Five officers left him to die, five officers covered it up,” she said.
Bean’s attorney, John Keith Perry, said there was reasonable suspicion for each crime his client was charged with.
Haley’s attorney, Stephen Loeffler, disputed prosecutors’ contention that Nichols never posed a threat to officers and said the beating by Martin, Beane and Smith left Nichols dead. said it was not Haley’s death, WMC reported Wednesday.
The officers also face second-degree murder charges in state court. Both men have pleaded not guilty, but Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas to guilty.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, who is in charge of the state trial, said after Thursday’s ruling that “appropriate action” will be taken in state court following the federal sentencing decision and in consultation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“The public has a right to know that those who enforce the law are not above the law. If they use excessive force, they will be held accountable,” he said. “Although the verdict may not be what we expected, we are ready to move forward with the state’s case.”
