Ex-MPD officers found not guilty of murdering Tyre Nichols in state trial
Nichols was beaten Jan. 7, 2023, after a traffic stop that was caught on video, and he died three days later.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — This story will be updated.
In a unanimous decision, the jury in the state trial of three former Memphis Police Department officers charged with the death of Tyre Nichols found the defendants not guilty on all counts.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith all faced charges of murder in the second degree, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and official oppression. All three pleaded not guilty to their charges during the first day of the trial.
They were found not guilty on all charges after jurors deliberated for about eights hours. You can watch the reading of the verdict here.
Nichols was beaten Jan. 7, 2023, after a traffic stop that was caught on video, and he died three days later. Nichols died of blows to his head, and the manner of death was homicide, an autopsy report released May 4, 2023 showed.
Two other former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills, pleaded guilty to federal charges and testified at the federal trial in 2024. They also pleaded guilty to state charges, but Martin’s state plea deal has not been set in stone like Mills.
The state trial began April 28, 2025. With attorneys previously predicting the case to last around three weeks, Shelby County prosecutors surprised some when they rested their case during day three of the state trial after calling just five witnesses.
More than 20 witnesses were called in total over the course of a week and a half — including Nichols’ mother, Mills and another MPD officer who was fired but not charged for the incident. Martin did not testify. You can read ABC24’s coverage of the trial here.
In the federal trial, Bean, Smith and Haley were all found guilty of obstruction. Bean and Smith were acquitted for three other counts.
Haley was found guilty of obstruction, conspiracy to commit obstruction and lesser charges of the first two counts, deprivation of civil rights and deliberate indifference resulting in serious bodily injury.