A jury has convicted three former Memphis police officers of witness tampering in the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols, but acquitted them of the most serious charges.
Jurors found Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith guilty of witness tampering. Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols’ civil rights causing death, but convicted of the lesser charge of violating his civil rights causing bodily injury. Bean and Smith were acquitted of all civil rights charges.
They were among five officers who were fired from the Memphis police department after the 7 January 2023 incident, which sparked protests in Memphis and across the US when footage of officers beating a young Black man was made public. Two of the other former officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr, pleaded guilty to depriving Nichols of his civil rights and testified for prosecutors in the federal case.
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