MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The federal criminal case against former Memphis police officers charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols has taken a shocking, unusual twist: Three of them are getting a new trial because a judge made comments after their convictions that raised questions of bias.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman ordered a new trial for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith. They were found guilty in October 2024 of obstruction of justice through witness tampering in the January 2023 beating of Nichols after he fled a traffic stop. Two other officers involved in the beating pleaded guilty and avoided trial.
Lipman wrote that U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris, who presided over the trial, raised “the risk of bias” when he commented in May that at least one of the officers could be in a gang, and that gang may have been responsible for shooting his law clerk.
Lipman’s order also said an assistant U.S. attorney recalled that Norris told her shortly after the shooting that the Memphis Police Department was “infiltrated to the top with gang members.”
Norris recused himself from the case in June, just days before scheduled sentencings for the five officers. He has declined comment.
If the case heads to trial again, defense attorneys, prosecutors, the officers and Nichols’ family will have to relive the brutal beating and the grueling legal battle that has followed. It is unclear when a new trial would take place, again putting Memphis in the spotlight for a death that sparked a federal civil rights investigation into its police.
Here is a look at the case, and what’s next.
On Jan. 7, 2023, officers yanked Nichols from his car and then pepper-sprayed and hit the 29-year-old Black man with a Taser. Nichols fled, and when the five officers, who also are Black, caught up, they punched, kicked and hit him with a police baton. Nichols called out for his mother during the beating, which took place steps from his home.
He died in a hospital three days later.
Video of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries. It prompted intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, nationwide protests and renewed calls for police reform.
Bean, Haley and Smith, along with Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., were fired. They were charged in state court with offenses including second-degree murder and in federal court with civil rights violations and obstructing justice.
Bean, Haley and Smith were convicted in federal court of trying to cover up the beating by failing to say that they or their colleagues punched and kicked Nichols and broke police department rules when they did not include accurate statements about what type of force they used.
Bean and Smith were acquitted of more serious civil rights charges.
Haley was found guilty of violating Nichols’ civil rights by causing bodily injury and showing deliberate indifference to medical needs, and also conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.
This May, Bean, Haley and Smith were acquitted of all state charges.
Martin and Mills pleaded guilty in federal court last year to violating Nichols’ civil rights by causing death and conspiracy to witness tamper. They did not stand trial in federal court.
Martin and Mills also avoided a state court trial after reaching agreements to plead guilty.
In her order, Lipman cited a notice by the U.S. Attorney’s Office about Norris’ reactions to his law clerk being shot during a car theft days after the federal trial ended. The clerk was staying at the home of another law clerk who had previously worked for Norris on the Nichols case, the notice said.
Norris met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and an FBI agent, who explained why no federal charges would be brought in the shooting.
Norris indicated that he believed at least one of the former officers was in a gang and that it was responsible for the shooting, the notice said. Norris told those present that he believed the intended target of the shooting was the former law clerk who had worked on the case and “had been seen by one or more of the Defendants during the trial,” the notice added.
The assistant U.S. attorney who attended the May 30 meeting recalled that Norris months earlier told her he could not meet with Memphis police to give a statement because the department was “infiltrated to the top with gang members,” the notice said.
Norris recused himself days after that meeting.
Bean, Haley, and Smith sought a new trial, arguing that Norris was biased and violated their due process rights.
While a review showed Norris’ decisions throughout the trial were “sound, fair, and grounded firmly in the law,” a new trial is necessary “because the risk of bias here is too high to be constitutionally tolerable,” Lipman wrote.
Lipman has ordered lawyers to state what charges they believe need to be retried, and she set a Sept. 25 hearing.
Charles Geyh, a law school professor at Indiana University and expert in judicial ethics, said it is already rare to get a new trial because of doubts that a judge could hear a case fairly. But Norris’ broad comments make the scenario “highly unusual,” Geyh said.
“In a case like this, it’s rarer still where the judge steps back and generalizes about the police force and associates them with organized crime and gangs,” Geyh said.
David Raybin, a Nashville criminal defense attorney who has represented police officers, said there could be renewed plea bargaining, potentially for lower offenses, given that the three officers had been convicted on the lesser federal charges and acquitted in state court.
“They may come to the table and say, ‘Look, we want a deal, we want a better deal,’ or whatever,” said Raybin, who is not involved in the case. “The prosecutors might say, ’Look, this case is snakebit. We maybe want to settle this case in some way.’ ”
Geyh said there’s a “very real possibility” Norris could publicly apologize.
Geyh also said someone could file a disciplinary complaint. The process could lead to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals chief judge talking privately with Norris, who might agree to some corrective steps, Geyh said.
Or the chief circuit judge could commission an investigative panel, with a judicial council potentially issuing up to a public reprimand, but likely nothing more severe, Geyh added.
Norris already has been reassigned off other cases, including a $550 million lawsuit by Nichols’ family against the five officers and the city of Memphis.
Nichols’ family members have not commented publicly on the new trial, and neither has their lawyer, Ben Crump.
But throughout their ordeal, Nichols’ relatives have expressed how difficult his death has been. During the trials, Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, and other relatives left the courtroom while jurors watched video of the beating.
After the state court acquittals in May, Crump said: “Tyre’s life was stolen, and his family was denied the justice they so deeply deserve. We are outraged, and we know we are not alone.”
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Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
