Three former United States police officers were convicted in federal court on Thursday over the beating death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man, following a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, in January 2023.
Although they were acquitted of causing Nichols’s death, they were found guilty of witness tampering, a serious charge that could lead to long prison sentences.
The officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith, faced trial on charges related to excessive force and covering up the incident. While Haley was also convicted of violating Nichols’s civil rights by causing bodily injury, all three were cleared of the more serious charge of causing his death.
Nichols, a 29-year-old father, died in the hospital three days after being repeatedly kicked, punched, and hit with a police baton near his home. His death, captured on surveillance and body-cam footage, sparked widespread outrage across the United States and renewed calls for police reform.
During the trial, the jury spent three weeks reviewing graphic footage of the assault, which showed Nichols crying out for his mother as the officers beat him. After five hours of deliberation, the jury delivered its verdict, convicting the three officers of witness tampering for allegedly omitting crucial information during the investigation.
The officers were members of the Scorpion Unit, a special anti-crime squad that has since been disbanded. Two of their former colleagues, who had pleaded guilty earlier, testified against them during the trial.
In response to the verdict, the US Department of Justice expressed hope that it would offer some comfort to Nichols’s family. Acting US Attorney Reagan Fondren said, “A basic principle for our system of justice is that there can be only one rule of law. Law enforcement officers must be held to the same rules as the citizens they’re sworn to protect.”
The officers are set to face second-degree murder charges in Tennessee state court, with sentencing scheduled for January. They could face up to 20 years in prison for witness tampering and up to 10 years for civil rights violations.
