Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Following a trial that lasted nearly four weeks, a federal jury in Memphis, Tennessee, found three former Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers guilty of federal felonies related to the death of Tyre Nichols on Jan. 7, 2023.
“All three former Memphis Police Department officers were convicted of federal felonies for their role in Tyre Nichols’ death,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “They join two additional former officers who had already pled guilty. With these convictions, all five of the former officers involved in the death of Mr. Nichols have been convicted of federal felonies. Tyre Nichols should be alive today. We extend our condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr. Nichols. We hope this prosecution provides some measure of comfort as the law enforcement officers tied to his death have been held accountable. We thank the trial team for their extraordinary dedication to prosecuting this case, and we thank the jury for their service. We will never rest in our ongoing efforts to ensure that law enforcement officers are held accountable for violating people’s civil and constitutional rights.”
“A basic principle for our system of justice is that there is — and there only can be — one rule of law,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Reagan Fondren for the Western District of Tennessee. “Law enforcement officers must be held to the same rules as the citizens they’re sworn to protect. More than a year ago, this office made a commitment to following the truth where it led in this case. Thanks to our trial team who worked tirelessly over the past 21 months to ensure that this case was properly investigated and tried and to the men and women in the jury for their service. The defendants have been found guilty of serious federal felonies and face significant penalties for those actions.”
Former MPD Officer Demetrius Haley was found to have deprived Nichols of his constitutional right to be free from an officer’s unreasonable force when he, and two other former MPD officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., unlawfully assaulted Nichols and willfully failed to intervene to stop his co-defendants from using unreasonable force. The jury found that Haley’s conduct resulted in bodily injury to Nichols. The jury also found that Haley deprived Nichols of his constitutional right to be free from a police officer’s deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs resulting in bodily injury to Nichols. Defendants Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills, Jr. previously pleaded guilty of using unreasonable force against Nichols, resulting in his death. The jury also convicted Haley of conspiring to commit witness tampering.
The jury also convicted Haley and former MPD officers Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith for their effort to cover up the use of excessive force against Nichols by omitting material information and providing misleading and false statements to their MPD supervising lieutenant and an MPD detective who was tasked with writing the report documenting this incident.
Evidence presented at the trial established that, on Jan. 7, 2023, defendant Haley assaulted Nichols after a traffic stop. Martin initiated the traffic stop, and Haley and another MPD officer subsequently arrived at the stop. When Nichols was on the ground, Haley pepper-sprayed Nichols and another officer tried to tase him, at which point Nichols fled the area.
Bean and Mills responded to the location where dispatch reported that Nichols had run and saw Nichols walking down the street. Nichols ran from the officers, and Bean ran after him and tackled him to the ground. When Martin arrived at the scene he immediately kicked Nichols in the head at least twice. As officers held Nichols on the ground, Mills pepper sprayed Nichols, expanded his baton and repeatedly used the baton to strike Nichols. Martin then repeatedly punched Nichols in the head and chest. Nichols went back to the ground, and, as two officers held him down, Haley ran up to the scene and kicked Nichols. Martin then kicked Nichols again.
After the assault, the officers placed Nichols in handcuffs and walked away from him, leaving him writhing on the ground. After several minutes, the officers dragged Nichols to sit against a police vehicle. Haley failed to render any medical aid to Nichols despite his visibly bloodied and swollen face.
Memphis Fire Department (MFD) first responders and EMTs arrived on the scene. Despite knowing that Nichols had been injured by the officers’ kicks, punches and baton strikes and was at substantial risk of serious harm if those injuries went untreated, Haley willfully failed to inform responding emergency medical personnel of the blows suffered by Nichols. Nichols’ condition deteriorated, and he was unable to communicate or sit upright. Nichols was eventually transported to a hospital, where he died three days later. The Chief Medical Examiner for the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center identified the manner of death as homicide due to blunt force trauma to the head, including rotational brain injury and brain bleeding and identified additional, extensive blunt force injuries to Nichols’ neck, arms, legs and torso.
A medical emergency responder testified that had they been told that Nichols’ injuries were caused by strikes to the head, they would have significantly altered their course of care. Nichols’ treating physicians testified that patients like Nichols who suffer from traumatic brain injury require immediate care and that a delay of even a few minutes of receiving appropriate care can cause death.
After the assault, the defendants spoke to an MPD lieutenant and an MPD detective tasked with writing the report documenting this incident where they omitted material information or provided false information. Specifically, the defendants falsely claimed that Nichols actively resisted arrest; Smith falsely stated that Nichols grabbed his vest and officers’ duty belts; and Mills and Smith falsely claimed that Nichols lifted both officers in the air. Each of the defendants also willfully omitted material information, including that they had repeatedly punched Nichols, that Martin and Haley had kicked him and that he had been repeatedly struck in the head.
The evidence at trial established that MPD policy and training require officers to use reasonable force and to intervene when they see other officers using unreasonable force. The defendants’ supervising lieutenant as well as MPD officers who trained the defendants on use of force all testified that Nichols posed little or no threat to officers and that Haley’s use of force was inconsistent with MPD training and policy. Co-defendants Martin and Mills also testified at trial that at the time of the beating, they knew that Nichols did not pose a threat during the incident and that the force used by them and Haley was contrary to their training. Martin testified that MPD officers regularly inflicted a “run tax,” which refers to the use of unjustified violence to punish anyone who runs from the police.
The evidence also established that MPD policy and training require officers to provide medical care to injured arrestees and that officers are trained that they must provide truthful and complete information to first responders and other healthcare providers.
The jury found that Haley disregarded this training and willfully violated Nichols of his constitutional rights. The jury found that Haley used excessive force, failed to intervene to stop other officers’ use of unlawful force and failed to provide aid to Nichols as he suffered a medical emergency and misled medical personnel who could have rendered life-saving aid. The jury found that the defendants also lied or omitted material information about the incident to their supervising lieutenant and an MPD detective in an effort to cover up their unlawful conduct.
Sentencing dates for the three defendants are set for January 2025. Haley faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for both the violations of depriving an individual of their civil rights under color of law resulting in bodily injury and for being deliberately indifferent to the known serious medical needs of a person in his custody. Haley faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to witness tamper and witness tampering charges. Bean and Smith each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the witness tampering charge.
Martin and Mills previously entered guilty pleas on federal charges, admitting that they each used excessive force and failed to intervene in the unlawful assault, resulting in bodily injury to and the death of Nichols, and that they conspired with their co-defendants to cover up the officers’ use of unlawful force against Nichols. A sentencing hearing for Martin is scheduled for Dec. 5 and a sentencing hearing for Mills will be scheduled at a later date.
The FBI Nashville Field Office investigated the case with the cooperation of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Deputy Chief Forrest Christian, Special Litigation Counsel Kathryn E. Gilbert and Trial Attorney Andrew Manns of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Pritchard and Elizabeth Rogers for the Western District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.