MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The jury trial for the $550 million lawsuit against the City of Memphis over the death of Tyre Nichols has now been reset for March 2025.
The lawsuit filed by Nichols' mother blames former Memphis Police officers for his death and accuses MPD Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis of "turning a blind eye" to the department’s SCORPION unit's "aggressive style of policing" even before Nichols' assault.
A judge originally set the civil trial for Jan. 27, 2025. On May 1, 2024, Judge Mark Norris reset the trial date for March 24, 2025, with a pretrial conference set for March 14, according to court records.
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The civil trial is now set to follow separate trials on state and federal charges for the former MPD officers charged in Nichols’ death. 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.
The trial on the state charges was originally set for August 12, 2024. A judge later agreed to move the state trial to after the federal trial, and a new date was not yet set. A trial date is set for Sept. 9, 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 covers both the federal and state cases.
Nichols was beaten Jan. 7, 2023, 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 were named as defendants in the 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 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.