Jury begins deliberating fate of 3 former Memphis officers charged in Tyre Nichols' death

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The fate of three former Memphis police officers charged in the beating of Tyre Nichols was in the hands of 12 people who do not live in the city as jury deliberations began Tuesday in the 29-year-old Black man’s death.

The jury began deliberating after a prosecutor and defense lawyers presented closing arguments in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. They already face the possibility of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

Nichols fled a Jan. 7, 2023, traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother near his home.

Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, calls for police reforms in the U.S., and intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority-Black city.

The sequestered jury ended its deliberations for the day at around 5 p.m., after having the case for four hours. They will resume Wednesday.

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. Prosecutors have argued that the officers used excessive, deadly force in trying to handcuff Nichols and were criminally responsible for each others' actions.

The officers also had a duty to intervene and stop the beating and tell medical personnel that Nichols had been struck in the head, but they failed to do so, prosecutors said.

Former Memphis officers Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin also were charged in the case. They have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial. They already pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.

Defense attorneys have sought to chip away at accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols. They have argued that Nichols was actively resisting arrest by running away and failing to give his hands to officers so that he could be handcuffed. They also say their use of force complied with police department policies.

Mills testified that he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols’ death three days later from blunt-force trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified that Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain.

As Nichols struggled with Bean and Smith, who were holding him on the ground, Mills tried to pepper-spray Nichols, but he ended up spraying himself, he said.

After stepping away to try to recover, Mills then walked up to Nichols and hit his arm three times with a police baton. Mills told prosecutor Paul Hagerman that he hit Nichols with the baton because he was angry over the pepper spray. Defense attorneys have said the the officer who acted with the most violence was Martin, who kicked and punched Nichols several times in the head but is not standing trial.

Mills acknowledged on the stand that he had a duty to intervene to stop the beating, but didn’t. But Mills also said Nichols was actively resisting arrest and not complying with orders to present his hands to be cuffed.

Martin Zummach, Smith’s lawyer, noted in closing arguments that credit and debit cards that did not belong to Nichols were found in his car when it was searched after the beating and said it was likely why Nichols ran from the traffic stop. Defense lawyers have argued that the fatal beating would not have taken place if Nichols had just allowed himself to be handcuffed.

“This is Emmitt Martin’s and Tyre Nichols’ doing,” Zummach said.

Mills acknowledged that the officers were afraid and exhausted, but said wrist locks and the baton strikes complied with police department policies.

Mills admitted Nichols never punched or kicked any officers.

Defense lawyers also claimed Bean and Smith could not see the strikes to Nichols’ head because they were blinded by pepper spray and they had tunnel vision as they tried to restrain Nichols.

But prosecutors sowed doubt on that claim by pointing to comments the defendants made after the beating. According to footage from the scene, Bean said Nichols was “eating” the blows and Smith said they hit Nichols with “so many pieces,” or punches. Smith also said “hit him” and Haley said “beat that man,” prosecutor Tanisha Johnson said.

The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded after Nichols' death. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders to amass arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people

The trial comes months after the U.S. Justice Department said in December that a 17-month investigation found that the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.

Former Memphis Police Department officer Justin Smith Jr., one of three former officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in 2023, takes the stand to decline to testify on his own behalf during the sixth day of the trial, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal via AP, Pool)

Former Memphis Police Department officer Tadarrius Bean, one of three former officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in 2023, takes the stand to decline to testify on his own behalf during the sixth day of the trial, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal via AP, Pool)

Former Memphis Police Department officer Demetrius Haley, one of three former officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in 2023, takes the stand to decline to testify on his own behalf during the sixth day of the trial, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal via AP, Pool)

Former Memphis Police Officers Tedarrius Bean, left, and Demetrius Haley, right, two of three former Memphis officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in 2023, wait in the courtroom during a recess of their trial, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, Pool)

Demetrius Haley, left, Tadarrius Bean, and Justin Smith, Jr., rear, three former Memphis Police Department officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in 2023, sit in the courtroom during their trial, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, Pool)

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellsaid Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he's repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project Trump has criticized as excessive.

Here's the latest:

Stocks are falling on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Department of Justice had served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony about the Fed’s building renovations.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% in early trading Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 384 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.

Powell characterized the threat of criminal charges as pretexts to undermine the Fed’s independence in setting interest rates, its main tool for fighting inflation. The threat is the latest escalation in President Trump’s feud with the Fed.

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Last week, Sheinbaum had said she was seeking a conversation with Trump or U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the U.S. president made comments in an interview that he was ready to confront drug cartels on the ground and repeated the accusation that cartels were running Mexico.

Trump’s offers of using U.S. forces against Mexican cartels took on a new weight after the Trump administration deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Sheinbaum was expected to share more about their conversation later Monday.

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The push by Prime Minster Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the United States — the world’s No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far.

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An ExxonMobil spokesperson did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment.

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Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.

The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.

The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”

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Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no direct reaction to Trump’s comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

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▶ Read more about the possible negotiations and follow live updates

Fed Chair Powell said Sunday the DOJ has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

The move represents an unprecedented escalation in Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.

Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.

▶ Read more about the subpoenas

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)