Even before the state trial began last month for the former police officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in Memphis, the defense notched an important victory.
The officers’ lawyers persuaded the judge to seat a jury from the area around Chattanooga, Tenn., hundreds of miles from where surveillance and body cameras captured the officers brutalizing Mr. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, in January 2023. Given how the videos had horrified Memphis, the lawyers said, they questioned whether local jurors could consider the facts impartially when the former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — went on trial.
Once the trial started, the defense lawyers took turns deflecting blame for the violence onto two other officers who were involved that night but were not on trial after pleading guilty. They also frequently reminded the jury of how dangerous policing can be, and of how their training allows for certain types of force at times.
“These cops serve in the most dangerous unit in the most dangerous city in the United States,” said Martin Zummach, a lawyer for Mr. Smith, noting the high crime rate in Memphis. He later described the officers as “doing a job that none of us in here have the guts to do, to keep us safe.”
All of those tactics are part of the playbook for defending police officers charged with excessive force and, some experts said, likely factored into the unanimous acquittal on all charges for all three defendants on Wednesday.
Paul Hagerman, top left, a prosecutor with Shelby County, Tenn., speaks with RowVaughn Wells, second from right, and her family before the verdict.Credit…Pool photo by George Walker IV
