The jury in charge of the trial against three former Memphis police officers for whistleblowing fatal beating of Tire Nichols in January 2023, this Thursday, the accused was convicted of involvement in his death, but the exonerated from the most serious crimeto provoke him. Nichols, a 29-year-old African American man, died on January 10, 2023, in a hospital three days after five police officers, also African American, stopped him in Memphis for a traffic violation and severely beaten, in a case which caused a stir. and protests against police brutality.
THE five police officers were kicked out of the force and accused of several crimes by federal justice, but two of them pleaded guilty after agreeing with prosecutors to testify against their companions, and ultimately only the other three were tried.
According to CNN, the jury deliberated for six hours over the fate of former agents Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith and found them all guilty of witness tampering, but cleared them of violate civil rights of the victim causing his death.
The jury, which during the nearly three-week trial watched videos of the brutal beating, found Haley guilty only of violating the victim’s civil rights by causing bodily injury. The three former police officers were accused of intentionally depriving Nichols of his constitutional rights when, aided and abetted by each other, they continued to assault and provoke him. “bodily injury and death”. They are expected to be sentenced in January and face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the crime of witness tampering. The five former officers are also charged at the state level with second-degree murder.
Nichols’ case came to light thanks to the existence of several videos that show how officers arrested the young man, forced him out of the vehicle and beat him, kicked him in the head, hit him with a baton and even used an electric shock. stun gun or taser. When the beating was over, They dragged Nichols to a patrol vehiclethey sat him on the ground and bumped their fists in celebration.
