Three former Memphis police officers convicted in connection with the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols will face a new trial.
U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman made the order after defense lawyers argued that another judge who presided over their earlier trial was biased against the men.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was fatally beaten in January 2023 after he fled a traffic stop.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith were found guilty in October 2024 on federal charges of obstruction of justice through witness tampering in the case.
Two other officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., were also charged.
However, they pleaded guilty before the federal trial.
Lipman took over the case in June after U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris, who presided over the case and the trial, recused himself days before the sentencings for the five officers.
In a separate state trial, Bean, Haley and Smith were acquitted of second-degree murder for the fatal beating.
Martin and Mills pleaded guilty to those charges.
Nichols ran from the traffic stop after officers yanked him out of his car, pepper-sprayed him and used a Taser on him. The officers then chased him down, kicked and hit him with a police baton, while he cried out for his mother just feet from his house.
He died three days later, sparking nationwide protests and renewed calls for police reforms in the U.S.
The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
The team targeted illegal drugs and guns and violent offenders to amass arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people.
All five were fired after Nichols’ death.
In late 2023, the U.S. Justice Department said a 17-month investigation showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.
