Second Memphis officer to change plea in death ofTyre Nichols

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A second former Memphis police officer is set to change his not-guilty plea to federal charges connected to the beating and death of Tyre Nichols last year, according to court documents filed Thursday.

The officer, Emmitt Martin III, is among the former officers who were indicted on federal civil rights, conspiracy and obstruction charges last September. He is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday for a change-of-plea hearing.

Whether he has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, and if so, what it involves, was not immediately clear. Another former officer in the case, Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty in November to two felony charges of obstruction of justice and excessive force, as part of a deal struck with federal prosecutors.

The remaining three officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — have pleaded not guilty to both federal and state charges related to the death of Nichols. A federal trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 9 in Memphis.

It remains unclear why Memphis police officers stopped Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, as he was driving home from work on Jan. 7, 2023. Video footage captured by surveillance cameras and the officers’ body cameras showed that the encounter became violent, as the officers kicked and pummeled Nichols, despite his lack of resistance and his pained pleas for them to stop.

Nichols died in a hospital three days later, and an autopsy report ruled his death to have been a homicide caused by blows to the head.

The brutality captured in the video images horrified the nation and the city of Memphis, where officials quickly fired the five officers, who are also Black. The police department disbanded its elite Scorpion unit, to which all of the officers belonged. The city issued a number of administrative punishments and firings in both the police and fire departments, citing the violence against Nichols and a failure to provide him with medical care despite the extent of his injuries.

Martin was among the officers charged in both state and federal court, and he pleaded not guilty.

A federal grand jury indicted the former officers on two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, as well as two additional counts related to witness tampering and obstruction and misleading officials about what happened.

Separately, state prosecutors levied seven felony charges against the five men, including second-degree murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and official misconduct.

As part of Mills’ federal plea deal in November, he agreed to cooperate fully with the state case. This was expected to include pleading guilty to at least some of the state charges, and potentially testifying against the other officers.

The five officers are also named in a lawsuit filed by Nichols’ family against the city of Memphis and the Police Department.

A New York Times analysis of video footage shows that Martin was among the first officers to approach Nichols and forcefully restrain him. When Nichols broke away and ran toward his mother’s house, Martin chased him, then repeatedly kicked and punched him in the head.

A lawyer for Martin, William Massey, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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