Ex-officers charged in Tyre Nichols beating death 'laughed' over 'dying body': prosecutor
Opening statements began on Wednesday in the federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols.Assistant U.S.Attorney Elizabeth Rogers presented the prosecution's case, explaining to jurors what evidence they can expect to see and warned them that they will watch and hear "horrifying" body camera video and audio over the course of the trial, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom."They stood by his dying body and laughed," Rogers said, describing what happened after the officers were finished beating Nichols, according to WATN.
"These will not be easy days."Defense attorneys for the former officers -- Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith -- also began presenting opening statements.John Perry, Bean's defense attorney, told jurors that they can expect to see that the evidence will show the officers did their job, according to WATN.“It will take you 5 minutes to deliberate,” Perry said, according to WATN.Michael Stengel, Haley's attorney, said that Nichols did not stop for 2 miles after officers turned on their police lights, according to WATN.Stengel claimed that there is no evidence that the officer knew who was driving at the time and there was no personal vendetta concerning rumors of a woman."When they got the wallet [of Nichols] after the stop, that's when they learned who it was," Stengel said, according to WATN.Bean, Haley and Smith, along with two other officers involved in the incident, were charged on Sept.
12, 2023, with violating Nichols' civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid – charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S.Department of Justice.
The 4-count indictment also charged all five officers with conspiring to engage in misleading conduct by attempting to falsify or intentionally withh...