Closing arguments presented during the trial of 3 agents accused in the death of Nichols shooting

Memphis, tenn. – The jurors were to begin to deliberate Tuesday during the trial of three former police officers from Memphis accused of second degree murder in the death of Nichols tire in January 2023.

A prosecutor and a defense lawyer presented closing arguments on Monday in the Tadarrius Bean trial, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who pleaded not guilty of state, including a second degree murder. They are already faced with the possibility of prison years after being found guilty of federal accusations Last year.

Nichols fled a traffic stop on January 7, 2023 after being out of his car, sprayed with pepper and struck with a taser. Five police officers who are also black caught up with him and struck, kicked and struck Nichols with a police stick, fighting to handle him while he called his mother near his home.

Images of the blows Captured by a police camera Also shown that the police were walking, spoke and laughed while Nichols struggled. His death led to national demonstrations, to calls for police reforms in the United States and a meticulous police exam in Memphis, a mainly black city.

The jury of the state trial was chosen in the county of Hamilton, which includes Chattanooga, after judge James Jones Jr. The defense lawyers for the police had argued that an intense advertisement made a fair jury of the county of Shelby difficult.

The former officers of Memphis Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin were also charged in the case. They agreed to plead guilty to state accusations and are not tried standing. They also pleaded guilty before a federal court, where the conviction of the five officers is pending.

The police are accused of second degree murder, serious assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. The prosecutors argued that the police used excessive force to try to handcuff Nichols. The police also had a duty to intervene and stop the blows and to tell the medical staff that Nichols had been struck in the head, but they did not, said the prosecutors.

While Nichols struggled with Bean and Smith, who held him on the ground, Mills pulverized Nichols and struck Nichols three times on the arm with a police stick, he said. Martin hit and kicked Nichols to the head, and Haley also kicked Nichols, while Bean and Smith held him while trying to handle him

In his closing argument, the prosecutor Melanie Headley said the police were criminally responsible for the death of Nichols.

“These are five officers who act together,” said Headley.

Defense lawyers sought to expel the accusations that the police used unnecessary strength to master Nichols. They argued that Nichols actively resisted arrest by fleeing and not giving his hands to the officers so that he can be handcuffed. They also argued that their use of force was in accordance with the policies of the police service.

Mills said that he regrets his inability to stop the blows, which led to the death of Nichols three days later blunt trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who made the autopsy, testified that Nichols had undergone tears and bleeding in the brain.

John Keith Perry, Bean's lawyer, said in his closing argument that Nichols ignored the orders to give the police his hands dozens of times. Bean was simply trying to handcuff Nichols and he followed his training from the Memphis police department.

“Bean does nothing to punish this person,” said Perry.

Tuesday, Lawyers of Haley and Smith will make their closing arguments, and the accusation will have the possibility of making a refutation closing argument. The jury will then begin to deliberate.

The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion unit which was dissolved after the death of Nichols. The team has targeted drugs, illegal firearms and violent offenders to raise arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people

The trial comes from months after the United States Ministry of Justice said in December A 17 -month survey have found that the Memphis police service uses excessive force and discriminates the blacks.