Write an article about 3 former Memphis officers acquitted in death of Tyre Nichols \u2013 NBC Los Angeles .Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6), Retain any existing tags from <\/p>\n
Three former Memphis officers were acquitted Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of\u00a0Tyre Nichols\u00a0after he ran away from a traffic stop, a death that sparked nationwide protests and prompted renewed calls for police reforms in the U.S.<\/p>\n
A jury, which appeared to be all white, took about 8 1\/2 hours over two days to find Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis. After the jury’s verdict was read, the defendants hugged their lawyers as relatives of the former officers cried. One relative yelled, \u201cThank you, Jesus!\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin Zummach, Smith\u2019s attorney, told The Associated Press by text: \u201cIt\u2019s easy to defend a good person. It\u2019s nerve racking to represent an innocent man. \u201c<\/p>\n
The three defendants still face the prospect of years in prison after they were\u00a0convicted of federal charges\u00a0last year, though they were acquitted of the most serious charges then, too. Two other former officers previously pleaded guilty in both state and federal court, including Emmitt Martin, who defense attorneys blamed for the majority of the violence.<\/p>\n
Bean and Smith are out on bond and under house arrest after their federal convictions. Haley is being held in federal prison.<\/p>\n
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit him with a police baton, struggling to handcuff Nichols as he called out for his mother just steps from his home. Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.<\/p>\n
Footage of the beating\u00a0captured by a police pole camera\u00a0also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries, video that prompted intense scrutiny of police in Memphis.<\/p>\n
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Nichols\u2019 family, issued a statement expressing outrage at the outcome of the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s verdicts are a devastating miscarriage of justice,\u201d the statement reads. \u201dThe world watched as Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by those sworn to protect and serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThree former Memphis officers were convicted on Thursday of charges of witness tampering in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in 2023.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Memphis District Attorney Steve Mulroy said he respects the jury but thinks the evidence was there for every charge that prosecutors brought.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas I surprised that there wasn\u2019t a single guilty verdict on any of the counts or any of the lesser-included offenses, given the overwhelming evidence that we presented? Yes, I was surprised. Do I have an explanation for it? No,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mulroy said he spoke to Nichols\u2019 family briefly and, \u201cThey were devastated. … I think they were outraged, and we can understand why they would be outraged, given the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Memphis officers Desmond Mills Jr. and Martin, who were also involved in the beating, have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and did not stand trial under deals with prosecutors. They also pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.<\/p>\n
At trial, defense attorneys emphasized that Martin kicked and punched Nichols several times in the head.<\/p>\n
The defense also seemed to score points with their use-of-force experts, who testified that the three officers on trial acted in compliance with police department policies and widely accepted law enforcement standards. Attorneys for Bean and Smith called character witnesses who testified that the men were good officers who did their job the right way.<\/p>\n
Mills testified for the prosecution, saying he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols\u2019 death from\u00a0blunt force trauma.\u00a0Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain, Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, said in court testimony.<\/p>\n
The officers had been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. In addition to beating Nichols, prosecutors also said the officers failed to intervene to stop the beating and failed to tell medical personnel that Nichols had been hit repeatedly in the head.<\/p>\n
Mills acknowledged on the stand that he had a duty to intervene, but didn\u2019t. He admitted Nichols never punched or kicked any of the officers.<\/p>\n
But Mills also bolstered the defense’s case when he said Nichols was actively resisting arrest and not complying with orders to present his hands to be cuffed. Under cross-examination, he indicated he would not have struck Nichols if Nichols had put his hands behind his back. He also agreed that an officer is not safe until a suspect is handcuffed and searched for a weapon.<\/p>\n
Zummach noted in closing arguments that credit and debit cards that did not belong to Nichols were found in his car when it was searched after the beating and said it was likely why Nichols ran from the traffic stop. Defense lawyers have argued that the fatal beating would not have taken place if Nichols had just allowed himself to be handcuffed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Emmitt Martin\u2019s and Tyre Nichols\u2019 doing,\u201d Zummach said.<\/p>\n
The jury for the state trial was chosen in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga, after Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the case be heard from people outside of Shelby County, which includes Memphis. Defense lawyers for the officers had argued that intense publicity made seating a fair jury difficult.<\/p>\n
In December, the U.S. Justice Department said\u00a0a 17-month investigation\u00a0showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.<\/p>\n
The five officers, the city of Memphis and the police chief are being sued by Nichols\u2019 family for $550 million. A trial has been scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n
Associated Press reporters Jonathan Mattise and Travis Loller in Nashville contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t and integrate them seamlessly into the new content without adding new tags. Include conclusion section and FAQs section at the end. do not include the title. it must return only article i dont want any extra information or introductory text with article e.g: ” Here is rewritten article:” or “Here is the rewritten content:”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Write an article about 3 former Memphis officers acquitted in death of Tyre Nichols \u2013 NBC Los Angeles .Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6), Retain any existing tags from Three former Memphis officers were acquitted Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of\u00a0Tyre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-reports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.nbclosangeles.com\/2025\/05\/AP23017762058468-3.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&fit=4032,3024&w=1920&resize=1920,1440&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14063,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14061\/revisions\/14063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}