Federal judge orders new trial for former Memphis cops in Tyre Nichols’ beating death
The three former Memphis police officers convicted in the beating death of Sacramento man Tyre Nichols will face a new trial, a Tennessee federal judge ordered, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
The decision Thursday by U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman came after defense attorneys for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, argued a previous federal judge who presided over the 2024 federal trial was biased against the officers.
Lipman replaced U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris after Norris recused himself before the officers’ 2024 sentencing.
Bean, Haley and Smith were convicted in federal court in 2024 of obstructing justice and witness tampering in connection with the fatal January 2023 beating of Tyre Nichols, 29, after the Black man born and raised in Sacramento fled a traffic stop near his east Memphis home.
Nichols, known in the capital city for his love of stakeboarding and photography, died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating by police.
The same three Memphis officers were acquitted earlier this year in May in a state court of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and other charges in Nichols’ killing.
The beating of Nichols by Memphis police, captured on video, made headlines and renewed focus of police violence against Black men. The three officers are Black. Five officers in all were fired by Memphis Police Department after the incident.
The two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., were charged in Nichols’ death, but pleaded to state charges before the federal trial, according to the AP.
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