By Adrian Sainz, Associated Press
Memphis, Tennessee (AP) – A jury outside Memphis will be seated in the trial of the State court of three former police officers accused of second degree murder in the death of Nichols after a traffic judgment in 2023, tried a judge on Friday.
The judge of the county of Shelby, James Jones Jr., did not specify where the jury will come from to hear the case against the former officers of the police department of Memphis, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who pleaded not guilty on the death of Nichols.
Two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., were also accused of second degree murder, but will not perform with their former colleagues. Martin and Mills are expected to change their non -guilty pleas before the State Court, according to lawyers involved in the case.
After Friday’s hearing, prosecutor Paul Hagerman only said that the jury would come from Tennessee. The trial is expected to start on April 28.
The police video showed that the police pulverized Nichols, 29, and struck it with a taser before fleeing from traffic stop on January 7, 2023. The five police officers hunted Nichols and kicked, struck and struck with a police stick a few steps from his home when he called for his mother. The video showed that the officers were walking, spoke and laughed while Nichols struggled.
Nichols died three days after the blows. The five officers were dismissed, accused before the Court of State of Murder, and charged by a large federal jury on civil rights and accusations of falsification.
Martin and Mills pleaded guilty to the federal accusations linked to the agreements with the prosecutors. The other three officers were sentenced in October to falsify the witness linked to the concealment of blows. Bean and Smith have been acquitted civil rights accusations to use excessive force and be indifferent to the serious injuries of nichols.
Haley was acquitted to have violated the civil rights of Nichols, which caused death, but he was found guilty of two less accusations of having violated his civil rights causing bodily injuries.
The convictions of the five officers of the federal affair are pending.
The death of Nichols has led to national demonstrations, increased the volume of calls for police reforms in the United States and led a meticulous examination to the Memphis police forces, a mainly black black city.
An investigation by the 17 -month -old American Ministry that the Memphis police service uses excessive force and discriminates the blacks.
The department is more than 50% black. Police chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis is also black.
The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion unit which has since been dissolved. The team has targeted drugs, illegal firearms and violent delinquents, in order to raise arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
