‘Miscarriage of justice.’ Ex-Memphis police officers in Tyre Nichols case found not guilty

After 8 and a half hours of deliberation, the jury in the Tyre Nichols state case returned a blanket not guilty verdict for three of the former police officers charged with killing Nichols on May 7.

Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, Jr. were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. The jury, an all white jury from Hamilton County, found all three not guilty on each count.

The jury found them not guilty of all charges, as well as lesser charges that they could have been convicted of.

“We have no idea what the verdict is. Whatever it is, poker faces. We will have a chance to talk about it,” Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman said to family ahead of the jury being brought into the courtroom. Judge James Jones, Jr. made a similar, albeit much more neutral, admonishment to the entire gallery after court was called back into session.

As the not guilty verdicts were read off by Jones, some of Nichols’ family members could be seen crying. The now-acquitted officers were hugging with their attorneys and the former-officers’ family members were crying after the jury had left.

“Hallelujah, thank you Jesus,” one family member of a former officer could be heard shouting repeatedly in the hallway.

In the wake of the acquittals, the legal team representing Nichols’ family said they were “outraged” at the verdict.

“Today’s verdicts are a devastating miscarriage of justice,” said Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, the attorneys representing Nichols’ family, said in a press release. “The world watched as Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by those sworn to protect and serve. That brutal, inhumane assault was captured on video, yet the officers responsible were acquitted. Tyre’s life was stolen, and his family was denied the justice they so deeply deserve. We are outraged, and we know we are not alone.”

Nichols’ family did not speak after the trial, instead opting to leave the courthouse. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the family was “devastated” after the verdict when prosecutors spoke with them.

He went on to say that he, along with the prosecution team of Hagerman and assistant district attorneys Melanie Headley and Tanisha Johnson, disagreed with the jury’s verdict.

“We, in good faith, brought this case and I am convinced to this day that we had compelling evidence that showed that there was proof for every element of every one of the offenses that we charged,” Mulroy said in a press conference after the verdict. “The jury took a different view. That is, of course, their right.”

Mulroy and the trial team declined to “Monday morning quarterback” their trial strategy, refusing to say what they would change if they could have. They also could not say what proof from the defense’s case was the most salient.

“We knew this was always going to be difficult,” Hagerman said. “We were trying the three least culpable in terms of, obviously, Mr. [Emmitt] Martin was the primary actor and he’s entered a guilty plea. Mr. [Desmond] Mills, with the baton strikes — again a primary actor — and he’s entered a guilty plea. So we knew the trial would be hard.”

Despite being found not guilty in state court, all three have been convicted in federal court and face time in federal prison. Sentencing for the federal case was postponed until the state case reached an end. Bean and Smith were found guilty in the federal case of witness tampering and face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Haley was found guilty on all counts — using excessive force, being deliberately indifferent to Nichols’ medical needs, witness tampering and conspiracy to witness tamper — but that jury found that when Haley violated Nichols’ civil rights it resulted in injury, not death. Haley could serve a life sentence in federal prison.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Two other former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills, Jr., pleaded guilty in the federal case to using excessive force and conspiracy to witness tamper. Mills’ plea agreement extended to the state case and he will serve both his federal and state sentences at the same time. It is not yet clear what Martin’s plea will look like in state court.

Martin and Mills testified during the federal trial. Mills testified during the state trial.

Mulroy, when asked what message this verdict gives to police in Memphis, said the guilty verdicts in federal court provided some consequences for their actions. He did, however, say that this verdict shows the need for reform.

“If we’re going to have any silver lining from this dark cloud of both the event itself and, in my view, today’s verdict, it has to be that we need to reaffirm our commitment to police reform and to doing what we need to do to make sure that tragedies like this don’t happen again,” he said. “

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, and followed on X @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ex-Memphis police officers found not guility in Tyre Nichols murder case