MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A jury from East Tennessee has reached a unanimous verdict Wednesday afternoon in the state murder trial against three former Memphis police officers accused in the January 2023 traffic stop beating death of Memphis civilian Tyre Nichols.

The all-white jury found former officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith not guilty on all seven counts listed in their indictments, including second-degree murder.

Jury deliberations exceeded eight hours and took place across two court sessions. The jury is made up of a sequestered panel from Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga.

FINAL VERDICT

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The defense for all three former officers on trial rested their cases over the weekend after calling 17 witnesses total, more than triple the number of witnesses the prosecution called to testify. The former officers on trial chose not to testify in their own defense.

The state rested its case on Day 3 after calling just five witnesses total.

Final arguments were split into two days, concluding around lunchtime Tuesday.

On the night of January 7, 2023, investigators say that officers with the Memphis Police Department‘s now-defunct SCORPION Unit pulled Nichols over in Hickory Hill for alleged reckless driving.

Investigators say he ran from the initial traffic stop at Ross and East Raines Road until officers caught him at Ross and Castlegate Lane near his parents’ house.

Five now-former MPD officers are accused of fatally beating Nichols, who was unarmed, in their effort to detain him.

Nichols was unresponsive by the time he was in cuffs and died at the hospital three days later.

Former Memphis police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith pleaded not guilty to their seven-count indictment from the state, which includes second-degree murder.

Two other former officers were also charged in state court.

Desmond Mills Jr. testified Tuesday as part of his plea deal. He also pleaded guilty to his federal charges.

Emmitt Martin III’s state trial will be severed from the other officers. A date has not yet been announced.

“There sit three men who are criminally responsible for the murder, the aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assaults of Tyre Nichols, as well as official misconduct and official oppression,” said Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Tanisha Johnson during closing arguments.

It was previously testified that Nichols’ cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. His manner of death was ruled a homicide.

The chief medical examiner and forensic pathologist who performed Nichols’ autopsy testified last week that the 29-year-old’s injuries were consistent with those he sees in fatal car crashes.

“I usually see these type of injuries in car accidents, for example, or people falling off of a high height of some sort,” said Dr. Marco Ross with the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center.

Attorneys for all former officers on trial have attested that this was the most difficult arrest any of them made in their policing careers, largely citing Nichols’ “superhuman strength” despite his small stature.

The defense has argued that the SCORPION Unit was created for violent crime suppression in hot spot areas of the city.

Within three weeks of its launch in 2021, the unit made 338 arrests, including 125 felony arrests, and recovered 95 weapons from Memphis’ streets.

It was testified last week that most of the suspects whom the SCORPION Unit detained were armed when they were searched.

Attorneys have also argued that these officers had consistent experience with dangerous felons and that Nichols would still be alive if he had complied with their demands.

“All Tyre Nichols had to do was say, ‘Alright, you got me!’” said Martin Zummach, who represents Smith.

They cite the stress of the job and have repeatedly emphasized that until a suspect is handcuffed and searched, no one on the scene is safe.

Prosecutors, however, claim the former officers were angry and wanted revenge after Nichols ran from the initial traffic stop.

“Men overcome by anger and frustration and overcome by the moment who literally beat a man to death,” said Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman.

Prosecutors also argue that Nichols’ death warrants a murder conviction because the codefendants knowingly used excessive force, kept quiet about the injuries Nichols suffered, and then tried to cover it up.

One of the now-former EMTs who treated Nichols at the scene told the jury last week that none of the officers who arrested Nichols told first responders that he had been repeatedly punched or kicked in the head.

Robert Long testified that medical personnel were only told that the suspect appeared to be on drugs. He told the jury that the medical care he gave Nichols would have been different had he known otherwise.

Bean, Haley, and Smith were previously convicted of federal witness tampering related to the cover-up.

The state told the judge earlier in this state trial that they believed that the most incriminating evidence against the former officers is the SkyCop surveillance video that depicts the alleged assault from an aerial perspective.

“Not once did someone say, ‘stop.’ And in fact, as it’s over, we [the codefendants] start fist-bumping, we start high-fiving, we start playing back what we did, ‘That was so great,’” said Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Melanie Headley.

Below is a list of all the charges that the codefendants faced, including possible lesser charges:

1st count - Second-degree murder

Lesser charges:

• Facilitation of second-degree murder
• Voluntary manslaughter
• Facilitation of voluntary manslaughter
• Aggravated assault resulting in death
• Facilitation of aggravated assault
• Reckless homicide
• Facilitation of reckless homicide
• Criminally negligent homicide
• Facilitation of criminally negligent homicide

2nd count - Aggravated assault

Lesser charges:

• Attempted aggravated assault
• Facilitation of aggravated assault
• Reckless aggravated assault
• Facilitation of reckless aggravated assault
• Reckless endangerment
• Assault
• Attempted assault

3rd count - Aggravated kidnapping with bodily injury

Lesser charges:

• Attempted aggravated kidnapping
• Facilitation of aggravated kidnapping
• Kidnapping
• Attempted kidnapping
• Facilitation of kidnapping
• False imprisonment
• Attempted false imprisonment

4th count - Aggravated kidnapping with deadly weapon

Lesser charges:

• Attempted aggravated kidnapping
• Facilitation of attempted aggravated kidnapping
• False imprisonment
• Attempted false imprisonment

5th count - Official misconduct, unauthorized exercise of official authority

Lesser charges:

• Attempted official misconduct
• Facilitation of official misconduct

6th count - Official misconduct, refraining from performing a duty

Lesser charges:

• Attempted official misconduct
• Facilitation of official misconduct

7th count - Official oppression

Lesser charges:

• Attempted official oppression
• Facilitation of official oppression

The Nichols family still has a pending civil lawsuit against the City of Memphis for $550 million.

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