Three former Memphis police officers have been convicted of witness tampering over the fatal beating of a motorist in a case that sparked national protests and calls for broad changes in policing.
Tyre Nichols died on January 10 2023, three days after the beating following a traffic stop.
Jurors deliberated for about six hours before coming back with a mixed verdict for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith.
All of them were convicted of at least one charge, but Bean and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges.
Haley was acquitted of violating Mr Nichols’ civil rights causing death, but convicted of the lesser charge of violating his civil right causing bodily injury.
Five officers were charged last year, but two pleaded guilty and gave evidence against members of their old crime suppression unit, eliminating any defence strategy that would have relied on them sticking together.
Jurors repeatedly watched graphic clips from police video that showed the officers punch and kick Mr Nichols and hit him with a baton just steps from his home, as the 29-year-old called out for his mother.
The witness tampering charges carry possible sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Mr Nichols was beaten for running from a traffic stop, saying it was part of a common police practice referred to by officers as a “street tax” or a “run tax”.
They said the officers lied — to a supervisor, to medical professionals attending to Mr Nichols and in written reports — about the extent of the force they used.
Mr Nichols, who was black, ran from the traffic stop despite being hit with pepper spray and a Taser. The five officers, who were fired after the beating, are also black.
Some of the most emotional evidence in the trial came from one of the officers, Desmond Mills, who took a plea deal in which prosecutors call for up to 15 years in prison.
He testified in tears that he was sorry for the beating, that he left Mr Nichols’ young son – now aged seven – fatherless and that he wishes he had stopped the punches.
Later, he testified that he went along with a cover-up in hopes that Mr Nichols would survive and the whole thing would “blow over”.
The other officer who reached a deal with prosecutors, Emmitt Martin, said Mr Nichols was “helpless” while officers pummelled him, and that afterwards the officers understood “they weren’t going to tell on me, and I wasn’t going to tell on them”.
Under his plea agreement, prosecutors will suggest a prison sentence of up to 40 years.
Defence lawyers questioned whether the officers were properly trained. They also pointed to Martin, who acknowledged punching and kicking Mr Nichols in the upper torso and head, as a principal aggressor.
The police video shows the officers milling about and talking as Mr Nichols struggles with his injuries.
A post-mortem report showed he died from blows to the head. The report described brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and other areas.
The five officers have also been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty, although Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas.
A trial date in state court has not been set.
