The five former police officers accused of they were beaten until death, last January, on African American Tyree Nicholspleaded not guilty today in a Memphis court Tennessee.
The exes police officerswhere they are African American themselveswere fired when the affair was revealed. They are Tadarius Bean, Dimetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. All of them are charged with murder, wounding, kidnapping and abuse of power.
Tyree Nichols’ mother, Rowan Wells, was present in court along with her attorney, Ben Crump. who is known for taking on many cases of police brutality.
The next hearing was set for May 1.
Judge James Jones Jr. asked the defendants and the audience to be patient and asked ex-cops to ‘cooperate’ with their advocates.
“Everyone involved wants this case closed as soon as possible,” he said. “But it is important that you all understand that the State of Tennessee, like the accused, they have a right to a fair trial and I will not allow any behavior that would jeopardize that right,” he warned.
At the press conference he gave soon after, Ben Crump appeared to respond to the judge when he asked to proceed “quickly” the process. “We don’t want it to last forever. We have video,” he said.
The footage of Nichols’ arrest and beating were broadcast in late January by several major television networks in the US. His mother said today that she will attend all court proceedings “until her son is vindicated”.
“And I want these cops to look me in the eye. They haven’t yet (…) they didn’t have the courage to look me in the eye after what they did to my son“, he added.
29-year-old Tyree Nichols was arrested on January 7th by agents of a Memphis task force for a traffic violation. The police beat him – until, according to his family, his face became unrecognizable – and he died three days later in hospital.
Source: News Beast
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