Ex Memphis US police officers found not guilty in murder of Tyre Nichols

Tyre Nichols' photo is displayed during a service in Memphis in January 2023. Photo / Joshua Lott, The Washington Post

A US state jury has found three former Memphis police officers not guilty of second-degree murder in the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols that helped galvanise a movement to reform police conduct.

The jurors deliberated for a day and a half after seven days of testimony that delved into the minutes after police pulled over Nichols for a traffic stop and when the 29-year-old FedEx worker was repeatedly hit and kicked by the officers.

Prosecutors had argued the officers had a duty to protect Nichols but became angry when he fled after being pulled over. Defence attorneys for the officers countered that their clients followed police procedure and had tough jobs that require split-second decisions. They warned the jury not to second-guess their actions from the comfort of a courtroom.

On the evening of January 7, 2023, Nichols was driving to his home in a nearly all-black neighbourhood in East Memphis when an officer noticed him speeding up to beat a red light. The officer didn’t find any warrants after running Nichols’ plates, but decided to pull him over.

Nichols managed to run away after being pulled from his car and forced to the ground. Officers caught up to Nichols again less than 100 yards (90m) from his mother’s house. One pepper-sprayed Nichols and then beat him with his baton. Another kicked and punched him. This confrontation, which was captured by a police camera at the intersection, lasted a few minutes before officers picked up Nichols and laid him against a car. An additional 22 minutes passed before a stretcher was brought out for Nichols and he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

He died in hospital three days later.

The verdicts come at a pivotal moment for police reform efforts. Advocates hoped the case would show that rogue officers could be held accountable and worried that an acquittal could stall their movement. Public support for reforms sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police has waned significantly since 2020, according to the Pew Research Centre. President Donald Trump campaigned on a platform of empowering officers to aggressively “clean up” American cities, and his Justice Department has essentially halted federal efforts to hold local police departments accountable.

The three officers were already found guilty of several federal charges, including excessive force resulting in injury, but were acquitted last year of the most serious ones, including civil rights violations resulting in death. They have not been sentenced on those charges yet.

In the federal trial, Demetrius Haley was convicted of excessive force resulting in injury, deliberate indifference resulting in injury, conspiracy to witness tamper and witness tampering. Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith Jr. were found guilty of witness tampering.

Two other officers involved in the killing, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to state and federal charges.

During a week-long state trial, prosecutors and defence attorneys dissected videos of the beating gathered from a surveillance camera and the officers’ body cameras. The officers’ attorneys argued that videos didn’t reflect the reality of what happened and the intense pressure the officers faced. If Nichols had co-operated when police attempted to handcuff him, the encounter would have ended differently, they told jurors.

“They’re doing a job that none of us have the guts to do,” Martin Zummach, who represented Smith, said of the officers. “All Tyre Nichols had to do was say, ‘Alright. You got me.’ He might have spent a little time in jail … but he wouldn’t be dead.”

The officers were following police policy and convicting them would handcuff the city, defence attorneys warned.

But Mills, one of the officers who already pleaded guilty, painted a different picture, telling the state jury that as he beat Nichols with the baton that night, Martin and Smith were yelling, “Hit him”.

Prosecutors said the trial wasn’t an indictment against all law enforcement, but about the actions of the three men on trial.

“Nobody is saying that it’s not a dangerous job,” assistant district attorney Tanisha Johnson said. “No one is saying that it doesn’t take bravery. But because it’s a dangerous job does not mean that you are immune from making criminal decisions.”