Former Memphis officers were frustrated when they fatally beat Tyre Nichols, prosecutor says

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Three former Memphis police officers were frustrated, angry and full of adrenaline when they fatally beat Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023, a prosecutor said Monday during opening arguments in their trial on second-degree murder charges.

Prosecutor Paul Hagerman showed the jury video of the beating in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges. The three already face the prospect of years behind bars after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

A police pole camera captured the beating just steps from the home where Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, lived with his mother and stepfather. That footage led to national protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the U.S. and directed intense scrutiny toward the police force in Memphis, a majority-Black city.

Police video showed officers pepper-spraying Nichols and hitting him with a Taser before he ran away from the traffic stop on Jan. 7, 2023. The five officers, who are all Black, chased Nichols and caught him just steps from his home, and then beat him as he called out for his mother. The video showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled.

Hagerman said Nichols was being held by his arms by two of the officers as he was punched and kicked and hit with a police baton. After the beating, as a severely injured Nichols sat on the ground, officers failed to tell medical personnel that Nichols had been hit in the head, the prosecutor said.

Hagerman said the officers helped each other beat Nichols to death. An autopsy showed Nichols died three days after the beating of blunt force trauma.

He said the officers had a duty to stop the beating but none of them did so. They were “overcome by the moment,” the prosecutor said.

“Nobody is going to call them monsters,” Hagerman said. “It doesn’t take monsters to kill a man.”

In his opening statement, Bean’s attorney said the officer responded to a call that police were looking for a man who had fled a traffic stop and had been pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Bean, who was not at the initial stop, saw Nichols, turned on his body camera, and chased him down, said attorney John Keith Perry.

Perry said the situation became “high risk” when Nichols continued driving for about 2 miles (3.2 km) after one of the officers turned on his vehicle’s blue lights in an attempt to stop Nichols for speeding. Nichols then failed to follow orders to give officers his hands so that he could be handcuffed, Perry said.

“He was actually resisting arrest the whole time,” Perry said, adding that the officers just “wanted to do their job effectively.”

The jury for the state trial was chosen in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga, after Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the case be heard from people outside of Shelby County, which includes Memphis. Defense lawyers for the officers had argued that intense publicity made seating a fair jury difficult.

The officers are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

Two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., also have been charged but will not stand trial with their former colleagues. Martin and Mills are expected to change their not guilty pleas in state court, according to lawyers involved in the case. Sentencings for all five officers in the federal case is expected after the state trial.

After Nichols' death, the five officers were fired, charged in state court and indicted by a federal grand jury on civil rights and witness tampering charges.

Martin and Mills pleaded guilty to the federal charges under deals with prosecutors. The other three officers were convicted in October of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the beating. Bean and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges of using excessive force and being indifferent to Nichols’ serious injuries.

Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols’ civil rights causing death, but he was convicted of two lesser charges of violating his civil rights causing bodily injury.

On Monday, Martin Zummach, Smith’s lawyer, described Smith as a ”kind and gentle” person who always wanted to be a police officer. He pointed blame at Emmitt Martin, who punched Nichols multiple times and “crushed the brain” of Nichols.

Michael Stengel, Haley’s lawyer, told the jury that Haley kicked Nichols once in the upper arm, but he did not break police department policies in doing so. Haley engaged in policing that evening that was “ugly” and “dirty,” but he did not commit a crime, Stengel said.

Both Smith and Haley called for medical aid the night of the beating, their lawyers said.

In December, the U.S. Justice Department said a 17-month investigation showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.

The department is more than 50% Black and Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis is Black.

The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that since has been disbanded. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders with the goal of amassing arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people.

RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, answers a question while taking the stand as a witness during the first day of the criminal trial for the death of Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Chris Day/Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network, via AP, Pool)

Former Memphis Police Department officers Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith Jr. look towards the audience in a recess after attorneys argued motions before the state criminal trial for the death of Tyre Nichols at 201 Poplar in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Chris Day/Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network, via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Martin Zummach, the defense attorney for former Memphis Police Department officer Justin Smith Jr., points to former officer Tadarrius Bean, as Judge James Jones Jr. hears motion arguments prior to the start of the criminal trial for the death of Tyre Nichols at 201 Poplar in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Chris Day/ Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network, via AP, Pool)

RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, smiles as she looks down at a photo of her son that is being submitted as evidence while she takes the stand as a witness during the first day of the criminal trial for the death of Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Chris Day/Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network, via AP, Pool)

John Keith Perry, defense attorney for former Memphis Police Department officer Tadarrius Bean, gives his opening statement during the first day of the state criminal trial for the death of Tyre Nichols at 201 Poplar in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Chris Day/Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network, via AP, Pool)

Shelby County deputy district attorney Paul Hagerman gestures to his head while discussing Tyre Nichol's head injuries as he gives the prosecution's opening statement during the first day of the state criminal trial for the death of Nichols at 201 Poplar in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Chris Day/Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network, via AP, Pool)

Former Memphis Police officer Tadarrius Bean, left, appears in a Shelby County courtroom on Monday, April 28, 2025, to stand trial for second-degree murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols after a 2023 traffic stop in Memphis. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP, Pool)

Former Memphis Police officer Demetrius Haley, left, appears in a Shelby County courtroom on Monday, April 28, 2025, to stand trial for second-degree murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols after a 2023 traffic stop in Memphis. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP, Pool)

Former Memphis Police officer Justin Smith appears in a Shelby County courtroom on Monday, April 28, 2025, to stand trial for second-degree murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols after a 2023 traffic stop in Memphis. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP, Pool)

FILE - The former Memphis police officers accused of murder in the death of Tyre Nichols appear with their attorneys at an indictment hearing at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center on Feb. 17, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by WREG, Tyre Nichols' stepfather Rodney Wells, center, stands next to a photo of Nichols in the hospital after his arrest, during a protest in Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2023. (Jordan James/WREG via AP)

FILE - Candles spell out the name of Tyre Nichols during a candlelight vigil for Nichols on the anniversary of his death, Jan. 7, 2024, in Memphis. (AP Photo/Karen Pulfer Focht, file)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)