Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a January 2023 traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother just steps from his home.
Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the U.S. and directed intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority-Black city.
Photo was shared 11 times
Video shows Haley taking a photo of Nichols, who was seated on the ground and leaning against a police car after the beating. Haley shared the photo 11 times and had text conversations with eight people about it, Miller said.
The officers are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Prosecutors have argued that the officers had a duty to intervene and stop the beating and tell medical personnel that Nichols had been struck in the head, but they failed to do both things.
Former Memphis officers Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin also were charged in the case. They have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial under deals with prosecutors. They also pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.
Ex-officer acknowledges duty to intervene
Defense attorneys have sought to chip away at accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols. They've argued that Nichols was actively resisting arrest by running away and failing to give his hands to officers so that he could be handcuffed. They also have argued that their use of force complied with police department policies.
Mills testified Tuesday that he regrets his failure to intervene and stop the beating, which led to Nichols' death three days later from blunt force trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified Wednesday that Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain.
As Nichols struggled with Bean and Smith, who were holding him on the ground, Mills pepper-sprayed Nichols, but he also ended up spraying himself, he said.
After stepping away to try to recover, Mills then walked up to Nichols and hit his arm three times with a police baton. Mills told prosecutor Paul Hagerman that he hit Nichols with the baton because he was angry over the pepper spray. Martin punched and kicked Nichols in the head, and Haley also kicked Nichols.
Acquittal motions denied
After the prosecution rested it’s case, defense attorneys asked Shelby County Judge James Jones Jr. to acquit the officers, arguing that prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to send the case to a jury. Defense lawyers have placed a lot of the blame on Martin, who is not on trial, suggesting he provided the worst of the violence.
Jones denied the motions, saying jurors should decide whether the officers committed the alleged crimes by considering trial testimony and watching the video.
Defense testimony begins
Later Wednesday, defense attorney Martin Zummach called as a witness TBI Special Agent Charles Baker, who testified that Nichols' car was searched after the beating and authorities found credit cards, debit cards and identifications that did not belong to Nichols.
Meanwhile, Kelli Rogers, a resident of the Memphis suburb of Arlington, testified that her wallet containing her ID and credit cards was stolen from her car in 2022. Rogers said she was recently informed that one of her credit cards was found in the car and that she did not know Nichols.
Officers who pulled Nichols over said they did so because he was speeding and driving recklessly, but they did not know about the items found in his car.
Hagerman, the prosecutor, asked Baker if the discovery of the IDs and credit cards influenced how the TBI investigated the assault case.
“Say everything in that car was stolen, it still has no bearing on the seriousness of the case I was asked to investigate,” Baker said.
Zummach then asked Baker if it was reasonable to conclude that Nichols was resisting arrest and wanted to get away from the car because he may have had “evidence of crime in his car.”
“It could be,” Baker said.
Baker also testified that mushrooms containing the hallucinogen psilocybin were found in the car. Ross, the medical examiner, testified Nichols did not have the hallucinogen in his system.
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