AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A Tennessee jury has acquitted three former Memphis police officers in the beating death of Tyre Nichols, who was a Black motorist. The jury found the fired detectives not guilty on a host of state charges, including second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. Two additional fired officers had already pleaded guilty to separate federal charges. Katie Riordan with member station WKNO in Memphis has followed this trial and joins us now. Hi, Katie.
KATIE RIORDAN, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: So what was the reaction to the verdict in the courtroom today?
RIORDAN: Well, the three men - Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith - hugged each other and their attorneys after they were found not guilty of all charges, even the less severe ones they faced. Now, Tyre Nichols' mother testified during the trial, but the family didn't speak to reporters afterwards. They did briefly talk with district attorney Steve Mulroy, who said they were still processing but were devastated.
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STEVE MULROY: I think we can understand why they'd be outraged by this result, given the evidence.
RIORDAN: Mulroy said that he respected the verdict from the jury that was brought in from Chattanooga, but he said he struggled to make sense of it.
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MULROY: I personally think any fair-minded person who watches the video would come to the conclusion that everybody there had some responsibility for Tyre Nichols' death. But as I said, the jury took a different view.
CHANG: He mentioned the video there. That video was made public, of course, and it seems that so much of this case revolved around the videos of this arrest - right? - both from the body cameras and a police security camera. Can you talk about, how did that video footage play out in court?
RIORDAN: Yeah, the videos were really the core of the prosecution's case. When it was initially released in 2023, there was a large public outcry, and Memphis' police chief condemned the officer's conduct as inhumane. It showed officers restraining, punching, kicking and striking Nichols with a baton after an initial traffic stop that he ran from. But during the trial, defense attorneys told jurors that Nichols evaded arrest and resisted them. They argued that the officers were just doing their job to handcuff him. On the other hand, the prosecution said the video showed Nichols struggling to survive the officers aggression and force.
CHANG: As we mentioned, two other officers have pleaded guilty to federal charges already. Do you think that played a role in the verdict here?
RIORDAN: It definitely played a role in the case. Initially, five officers were involved, and they were all fired from the police force. Two of them agreed to also plead guilty in this state case. I should note that three officers who were just acquitted - they were convicted last year in federal court of witness tampering. Now, one of the officers who pleaded guilty, Desmond Mills, testified at both trials. He said he used a baton on Nichols after he lost his composure from pepper spraying himself by accident.
And at trial, defense attorneys really leaned into shifting blame for Nichols' death to the other officer who pleaded guilty, Emmitt Martin. He repeatedly kicked and punched Nichols in the head. And even though the prosecution conceded that some of the officers inflicted more physical abuse than others, they said that everyone at the scene had a duty to intervene, and they didn't.
CHANG: And real quick, how have people outside the courthouse been reacting to the verdict so far?
RIORDAN: Well, I think it's still playing out, but there have already been statements from local leaders expressing sadness and frustration. And then there's a larger question surrounding what this means for police accountability locally. The Department of Justice released an investigation last year that found practices of unconstitutional policing within the Memphis Police Department. And the city's formed a task force to address those concerns, but there's some skepticism about how enforceable any changes may be.
CHANG: Katie Riordan with member station WKNO, thank you so much.
RIORDAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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