MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Court documents are revealing new details into the plea deal for one of the former Memphis Police officers charged in Tyre Nichols’ death.
Desmond Mills Jr. has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of the federal indictment, according to court records.
The plea agreement says Mills will plead guilty to two counts, for excessive force and obstruction of justice. Under the agreement, he waives his rights to appeal in the case, unless related to claims of ineffective counsel or prosecutorial misconduct.
The document says, “The defendant agrees that he is pleading guilty knowingly and voluntarily because he is in fact guilty of the offenses charged in Counts One and Three of the Indictment. The defendant admits the facts set forth in the Statement of Facts filed with this Plea Agreement and agrees those facts establish guilt of the offenses charged beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The federal charges against Mills concern his excessive use of force when he and four other charged officers beat Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023, and refused to give him medical aid. He is also accused of lying to his supervisors about the beating.
The agreement says the federal government will dismiss the other two federal counts at sentencing. It says the prosecutors will recommend 15 years in prison, however it is found Mills “inaccurately” portrays his involvement in Tyre’s death or commits any other crimes, then the sentencing recommendation could change. Under the agreement, Mills can argue for a lesser sentence.
Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy announced at the same time as the news of the federal plea deal that Mills also reached deal with the state to plead guilty to charges of second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct. The 15-year sentencing recommendation would cover both the federal and state cases.
“He is providing substantial cooperation that will assist us," Mulroy said when announcing the agreement. “There are different levels of responsibility within the five defendants, and I would say based on our understanding of the facts as we allege them, he is not the worse of the five.”
The other four former Memphis Police officers charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nichols' death are Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean.
They have pleaded not guilty to the federal and state criminal charges, including second-degree murder, in the Jan. 7 beating of Nichols after a traffic stop that was caught on video— and his death three days later. Nichols died of blows to his head, and the manner of death was homicide, an autopsy report released May 4 showed.
'Statement of Facts'
According to the statement of facts from the plea agreement documents for Mills, Mills and Bean were together in their patrol car when they received a call for assistance for "a suspect who had been pepper-sprayed and tased." The document said Mills saw the suspect, later identified as Nichols, walking and wiping his face with his shirt, and Bean jumped out and started chasing him.
According to the document, Mills parked and ran to catch up, and saw Bean and Smith with Nichols on the ground. It said the officers told Nichols to give them his hands, but instead of handcuffing him, Bean and Smith hit Nichols, who called for his mother. The document said Mills did not try to handcuff Nichols, but pepper-sprayed him three times.
At that point, Martin arrived at the scene, and according to the document, began using force against Nichols. Mills said he stepped away and "turned his back on his fellow SCORPION officers" as this happened.
Mills then walked back to the scene, and according to the Statement of Facts, opened his baton, telling the other officers to "watch out," then telling Nichols "I'm about to baton the f*** out of you." The document said Nichols was still on the ground and Mills yelled "Give me your f***ing hands" and two other officers said "hit him." At that point, Mills said in the document it appeared Nichols was coming off the ground as Smith pulled his arm and wrist, and Mills struck Nichols' right arm with the baton repeatedly. The document said Bean and Martin stood by and did nothing to stop this, and Nichols was not given an opportunity to comply with the officers' commands.
"Defendant Mills struck Nichols with the baton even though he knew that the use of the baton under the circumstances was inconsistent with MPD training and policy. Nichols’ passive resistance did not justify defendant Mills’ use of the baton to strike Nichols," said the document.
At that point, Mill stopped hitting Nichols with the baton, and Bean and Smith lifted him up, and Martin punched Nichols in the head repeatedly "without any justification," according to the document. "Defendant Mills thought to himself that Martin needed to stop punching Nichols, but he said nothing to Martin, Bean, and Smith."
It went on to say Mills recognized his actions and failure to intervene violated MPD policy and training.
The document said this is when Haley arrived, yelling "beat the man," and Mills called for assistance and turned his back to the scene.
After the beating, Mills walked around but did not provide medical aid to Nichols, and did not tell MPD dispatch that Nichols had been beaten and had visible head injuries and was in need of medical care. It said he also did not tell MFD EMTs that Nichols had been beaten when they arrived. It said instead, Mills joined other officers in claiming Nichols was high on drugs.
The document goes on to say the five officers discussed what happened with each other, and used hand-signals to warn about the body cameras that were still running. That's when Mills removed his camera and put it on the squad car, then stepped away "to have what he believed was an off-camera conversation with the other officers who had participated in the assault.
The document said Mills spoke to his supervisor at the scene and "expressed concern about Nichols' survival," telling the supervisor
they had done 'everything by the book.'"
Though they went to the hospital, neither Mills nor Bean told emergency personnel that Nichols had been repeatedly beaten, according to the document.
Later that night, the five officers discussed the assault and agreed not to report the others' misconduct, according to the document. They then provided "false and misleading information and omitting material information in their statements to an MPD Detective tasked with writing the incident report for MPD," and to supervisors and others in various reports.
In the document, Mills admitted to falsely claiming Nichols was fighting with officers at the traffic stop, even though he wasn't there at that time, and that Nichols was "aggressively resisting" Bean and Smith." He also admitted to providing false and misleading information, trying to cover up what happened. It also said Smith called Mills later, telling him that Martin and Haley had kicked Nichols in the head.
Lawsuit and investigation
Tyre Nichols family has filed a civil lawsuit in the case.
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.