Second Officer To Change Plea In Case Of Tyre Nichols

A former Memphis, Tennessee, police officer who was charged in connection with the beating death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, pleaded guilty to excessive use of force Friday, just weeks before his federal trial was slated to begin, according to authorities.

Emmitt Martin III also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to tamper with a witness. He is one of five officers originally charged in the case and the second to plead guilty before trial.

“Driven by anger, Emmitt Martin used excessive force on Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023. Driven by fear, he tried to cover it up. Today, in open court, he accepted responsibility for what he did,” Stephen Ross, an attorney representing Martin, said in a statement to HuffPost.

Martin now faces up to 40 years in prison for failing to intervene during the assault of Nichols as well as omitting and giving false information about the incident to his supervisor.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said in a statement Friday that Martin’s plea will ”lead to a substantial and well-deserved sentence.”

“From the beginning, our office has closely coordinated our state prosecution with the federal prosecution. We expect that at the appropriate time, Martin will enter a similar plea in state court,” Mulroy said.

“This marks another important step toward closure for the family of Tyre Nichols. While today’s development is significant, there is still more work to be done. The public deserves confidence that those responsible for enforcing the law will be held accountable for excessive force.”

One other officer, Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to federal charges of obstruction of justice and excessive force in a deal with federal prosecutors on Nov. 2. Mills also faces up to 15 years in prison on state charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and other offenses.

The other officers who have been charged in the case — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — pleaded not guilty to the same federal charges and still face trial, which is set to begin Sept. 9 in Memphis.

Bean, Haley and Smith also pleaded not guilty to the same state charges the other officers are facing connected to Nichols’ death. Martin also faces the same charges in state court, though a court date for his state case has not yet been set.

The officers were members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION Unit, a street crime task force that was disbanded after the national outrage over Nichols’ death.

Officers pulled over Nichols on Jan. 7, 2023, as he was fleeing a traffic stop. Body-worn camera footage and other video released by the City of Memphis showed the five officers taking turns punching and beating Nichols.

Nichols later died in the hospital.

A photo taken by Nichols’ family shows him covered in bruises and his eyes swollen shut.

One other Memphis police officer was fired over his involvement in the traffic stop. Three employees of the Memphis Fire Department were also fired for not rendering aid to Nichols.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced in July of last year it would investigate whether the city participated in discriminatory policing practices against Black people. The investigation remains ongoing.

Memphis’ city council approved ordinances that would change how officers in the city conduct traffic stops, but state Republicans blocked the reform effort earlier this year.