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Politics|3 Former Officers Acquitted of All State Charges in Tyre Nichols’s Death
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/us/politics/tyre-nichols-state-trial-officers-acquitted.html
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The former Memphis officers were acquitted of all charges, including second-degree murder, in the beating death of Mr. Nichols.
By Ben Stanley and Emily Cochrane
Ben Stanley reported from Memphis and Emily Cochrane from Nashville.
May 7, 2025Updated 4:02 p.m. ET
Three former police officers were acquitted in state court on Wednesday of all the charges against them, including second-degree murder, in the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man whose brutal beating in 2023 stunned the nation.
It was the second trial for the three men — Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith — who were accused of fatally beating Mr. Nichols, a FedEx employee who had been driving home from work when he was stopped by officers more than two years ago.
The verdict was a sharp contrast from the outcome of the defendants’ federal trial last fall. The three were found guilty of witness tampering charges in that case, but acquitted of a more serious charge, violating Mr. Nichols’s civil rights by causing his death. Federal jurors also found Mr. Haley guilty of violating Mr. Nichols’s civil rights by causing bodily injury.
The jury in the state case, seated from the Chattanooga area in eastern Tennessee to ensure a fair trial, deliberated more than eight hours after a seven-day trial in state court.
Sentencing in the federal trial is expected later this year.
The three former officers were emotional after the verdict was read on Wednesday, with Mr. Haley appearing to cry. Mr. Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, who gave wrenching testimony about the injuries that her son sustained, did not show any emotion.
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