MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The attorney for Demetrius Haley — one of the former Memphis Police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols — filed on Thursday, Jan. 18, a request for a change of venue for Haley's federal trial, court records said.
According to court documents, Haley and his attorney wanted a venue that has not been "infected" by media coverage to the degree that people in Shelby, Fayette, Tipton, and Lauderdale counties have experienced.
Haley's attorney also requested that the jury drawn would be more representative of the entire Western District of Tennessee than a panel drawn exclusively from the four counties of the Western Division.
The United States Constitution states that trials should be held in the district where the offense occurred. These mandates can only be disregarded if extraordinary local prejudice will prevent a fair trial.
A hearing for the motion has yet to be set.
Tadarrius Bean, Justin, Smith, Haley, and Emmitt Martin have pleaded not guilty to state charges of second-degree murder, assault, official misconduct, and kidnapping. They also face federal charges alleging they used excessive force and lied about the beating.
During a Dec. 4, 2023, hearing, both the defense council and the state discussed the evidence they were able to review in the case. The attorneys said each defendant received more than 300 hours of audio and video evidence to look over as part of the discovery process.
A motion filing deadline was set for February 2, 2024. The trial remains set for August 12, 2024, on the state charges. A trial date is set for May 6, 2024, on the federal charges.
A fifth former officer charged in the case, Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty in early November to federal charges of excessive force and obstruction of justice. Shelby County D.A. Steve Mulroy said Mills also reached deal with the state to plead guilty to charges of second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct. A 15-year sentencing recommendation would cover both the federal and state cases.
Nichols was beaten Jan. 7 after a traffic stop that was caught on video, and he died three days later. Nichols died of blows to his head, and the manner of death was homicide, an autopsy report released May 4 showed.
The five officers, all of whom are Black, were fired shortly after the beating. Two other MPD officers were also fired, along with three Memphis Fire Department emergency medical technicians who were fired for failing to render aid to Nichols as he struggled with his injuries. All of them are also defendants in a civil lawsuit by Nichols’ family against the City of Memphis.
The five former officers who were charged were also part of the so-called Scorpion unit, a crime-suppression team that police officials disbanded after Nichols' beating.
In July, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it's launching a civil rights "pattern or practice" investigation into the Memphis Police Department and the City of Memphis.
