MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The second day of witness testimony in the federal civil rights trial of three former Memphis Police officers accused of killing Tyre Nichols started Thursday with expert testimony from the man who trained the former officers.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, all on trial for accused violations of Tyre Nichols' civil rights, sat stoically as attorney Kate Gilbert played Skycop video from Tyre Nichols arrest.
Rogers showed the video to Thursday's first witness, Memphis Police Department Lt. Larnce Wright.
Nichols' mother and sister both exited the courtroom before playing the video.
Wright was shown videos from the night of Nichols stop with intermittent pauses asking if the techniques being used by officers were in line with MPD policy.
Wright said no, with conflicting orders and unwarranted levels of force that did not align with the continuum of force followed by MPD.
Wright said the use of force was not compliant with academy training and policy.
Wright said the beating “wasn’t necessary” if the goal was to get Nichols in custody.
That continuum of force tells officers to meet force at an equal level. Wright said during the initial stop, Nichols voicing that he was trying to do what was asked should have led officers to deescalate the situation.
Wright also said that the scenario of the initial stop should have been a low risk traffic stop.
Video from a Skycop camera and former officers Mills and Hemphill were shown with Wright saying officers were not following training for several reasons and described Nichols behavior as human nature.
“If I’ve been sprayed in the face and being kicked in the face, it’s kind of hard for me to
give you my hands,” Wright said.
Judge Mark Norris struck that quote from the record after an objection.
Wright said during the videos playing that there were several points at which officers should have intervened and stopped other officers from using punches, kicks and their ASP baton.
Court resumed Thursday afternoon, but jurors were dismissed early around 2:45 p.m. due to weather from the remnants of Tropical Storm Francine.
Federal prosecutors filed a motion to exclude certain evidence from being presented by the defense, including unrelated arrest records, accounts of unrelated violent acts on officers, and general crime in Memphis.
Prosecutors argue the inclusion of such evidence, unrelated to Nichols' death, is irrelevant to the case at hand and will welcome jury nullification.
The evidence was brought up by defense attorneys during opening statements Wednesday.
"Defendant [Justin] Smith went so far as to suggest that he would seek to admit testimony about a thousand arrests and unverifiable claims about the percentage of dangerous weapons found during the arrests," prosecutors stated in the motion.
Tyre Nichols died on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after a violent encounter with Memphis Police's SCORPION Unit on Jan. 7.
Bean, Haley and Smith are all charged with murder, among other state felony charges, in Nichols' death. Former MPD officers Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills, Jr., both pled guilty to the federal civil rights charges earlier in 2024, and face recommended prison sentences of up to 40 and 15 years, respectively.