Jury selection enters day 2 in the trial of 3 Memphis officers charged in Tyre Nichols’ death
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The jury selection process took place on Tuesday in the federal process of three former Memphis police officers charged with federal civil rights violations in the January 2023 beating death case Band Nichols.
A pool of 200 candidates answered questionnaires prior to jury selection to assess their ability to serve on the panel. They answered questions from U.S. District Judge Mark Norris about whether they could be fair and impartial in light of the heavy media attention on the trial and whether viewing videos of the beatings would be a problem for them if chosen.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith have pleaded not guilty to charges that they deprived the 29-year-old Nichols of his rights through excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstruction of justice through witness tampering. The beating was captured on police body cameras, sparking protests and calls for police reform. Two others, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., have already pleaded guilty to federal charges and could testify against their former colleagues.
The process is expected to take three to four weeks.
Nichols, who was Black, died in a hospital on January 10, 2023, three days after he was kicked, punched and beaten with a police baton following a traffic stop. Police video Released that month, the five officers, who are also black, beat Nichols as he screamed for his mother a block from his home. Video footage also showed the officers standing around and talking to each other as Nichols sat on the ground, struggling with his injuries.
Officers said Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, but the Memphis police chief said there was no evidence to support that claim.
An autopsy report found that Nichols had died from blows to the head and that the cause of death was homicide. The report described brain injuries and cuts and bruises to the head and other areas.
Nichols worked for FedEx and he loved skateboarding and photography.
The three officers now on trial, along with Martin and Mills, were fired for violating Memphis Police Department policy. They had been members of a crime-fighting team called the Scorpion Unit, which was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Shortly after their release, the five were charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. They were then indicted by a federal grand jury from September 2023.
Mills and Martin have both pleaded guilty in federal court and are expected to plead guilty to state charges as well. No trial date has been set for the state court.
On Monday, the judge read a list of potential witnesses, including Martin and Mills, as well as two other former officers. Preston Hemphill fired his stun gun at the scene of the traffic stop but did not follow Nichols to the scene where other officers were beating him. Hemphill was fired. Dewayne Smith was the supervising lieutenant who arrived at the scene after the beating. He retire instead of being fired.