What to expect in the 4 legal cases a year after Tyre Nichols' fatal police beating

Three different legal battles and a federal investigation have been launched in the year since Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten by former officers with the Memphis Police Department.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s pattern-or-practice investigation is expected to give the most in-depth look inside the department’s operations and policies, but the findings of that investigation will be kept secret until the investigation is completed in the next few years.

Meanwhile, a state criminal case and federal case are marching toward trial, with a federal civil case lagging behind. Here’s what to expect in the second year of Nichols-related cases.

Trial date for the Tyre Nichols federal criminal case is in question

The criminal case in federal court charged five MPD officers ― Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith ― with use of excessive force, tampering with witnesses, conspiracy to witness tamper and deliberate indifference.

In a scheduling conference, Judge Mark Norris and attorneys agreed to begin the trial on May 6.

One defense attorney representing Haley, Michael Stengel, has since cast doubt on that date holding, saying in a mid-November 2023 report date that he had received a “voluminous disclosure” of discovery from the DOJ.

After that hearing, Martin’s attorney, William Massey, acknowledged the amount of work that needs to be done before going to trial.

“There’s still an awful lot of work to do, there’s no doubt about that,” Massey said. “But we’ve got a team put together for Mr. Martin, and I think we will be doing our best to be ready on the sixth [of May 2024].”

Massey made that court appearance with two additional attorneys that he had added to the defense team, with Catalina Goodwin and Stephen Ross Johnson from a Knoxville-based law firm helping on the federal criminal case.

All of the now-former MPD officers charged in the federal case are being represented by the same attorneys in the state case.

Also factoring into potential delays in the federal case is a motion pending to have the case moved outside of Shelby County due to media coverage. Venue changes are generally granted when a judge finds that defendants will likely not have a fair trial in the jurisdiction a crime occurred in.

Judges have generally been reluctant to grant venue changes when media coverage is cited. Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis Police Department officer convicted of killing George Floyd in 2020, had a similarly high-profile federal case heard in Minnesota’s district court, though his attorneys never requested a change in venue.

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It is, however, not clear how a federal venue change would differ in Tennessee since Minnesota only has a single district court compared to Tennessee’s three federal district courts.

Should the venue change not be granted by Norris, Bean’s defense attorney, John Keith Perry, requested that jurors be selected from outside Shelby County.

The plea deal from Mills, which was entered in November, could also change the trajectory of the federal case. Mills’ plea has the potential to expedite the case, and could also be the first domino to fall in a series of plea deals.

Should the federal case get pushed back, it will also likely push back the state case, as attorneys have said for months they want the federal case wrapped up before starting trial.

Attorneys expect the state case to stay on track, despite federal concerns

The state case is slated for trial in August. After that date was set by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr., Massey said that trial date seemed “fairly realistic” to him.

After the state trial date was set, Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman said he was sure the case would proceed in a timely manner.

“We had taken a lot of considerations in setting the trial date — the federal trial, and things like this. It’s hard for these attorneys, and defense attorneys especially, to litigate this sort of on two different fronts,” Hagerman told reporters. “So, we were back in chambers for quite a while this morning, while I guess you all were probably waiting, with attorney’s schedules and taking into account when the federal date was, and things like that. We think we picked realistic dates that we can hold everybody to.”

Like the federal case, Massey is considering filing a motion requesting a change in venue at the state level. Judges at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center have also been unwilling to grant venue changes in high-profile cases.

Judge Lee V. Coffee denied venue changes in the Lorenzen Wright case, and most recently denied a motion to change venue in the case of Cleotha Abston-Henderson, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Eliza Fletcher and raping Alicia Franklin.

“[To grant this venue change], I would have to say, ‘I don’t trust jurors in Shelby County, Tennessee. They are inherently untrustworthy. They’re inherently unreliable. I don’t think these jurors in Shelby County, Tennessee will give a defendant a fair trial,’” Coffee said during his denial of Abston-Henderson’s motion. “I cannot make that statement.”

Jones, though one of Shelby County’s newly elected judges, has been methodical and firm in his rulings thus far. Jones denied the motion for the five officers to be granted separate trials, and thoroughly questioned the motivation by defense attorneys during oral arguments on the motion.

The federal timeline holds much weight in how the state case progresses, though. Mills pleaded guilty in both the federal and state case, with state prosecutors saying they had to wait for his federal sentencing to sentence him at the state level. That sentencing is planned to come after the conclusion of the federal trial but before the state trial.

More plea deals were not taken off the table by prosecutors at the state level, and the DOJ has been reluctant to speak with media following court dates, but some defense attorneys, like Massey, have stood firm in taking the cases before a jury.

Tyre Nichols' family's $550 million civil lawsuit lags behind criminal cases

After state criminal charges were filed in January 2023, Ben Crump announced his firm — along with an expansive legal team that includes Antonio Romanucci from Chicago and a litany of Memphis attorneys — had filed a $550 million civil lawsuit in federal court.

That dollar amount, according to Crump, represented $10 million for each year since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It also came with the goal of making “it financially unsustainable for these police oppression units to unjustly kill Black people in the future.”

The case is slated for January 2025 and is expected to last 15 days.

The civil case’s length will be almost entirely dictated by the length of the two criminal cases. The five officers charged with violating Nichols’ civil rights and in his death have had their aspects of the civil case placed on hold.

Meanwhile, the City of Memphis, MPD Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis and other co-defendants are steadily checking pretrial boxes.

The pivotal ruling in the civil case will be on the city’s motion to dismiss.

Magistrate Judge Annie T. Christoff previously denied the city’s motion to strike allegations that the city should have been aware of dangers in establishing a unit like the SCORPION Unit due to Davis’ involvement in the controversial RED DOG Unit when she was with the Atlanta Police Department.

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The ruling was a win for the Nichols family and could be seen as a gauge for how Christoff might rule on the city’s motion to dismiss.

Though the city has seemingly been the focus of the civil lawsuit, each co-defendant has also filed a motion to dismiss in the case.

Should Christoff rule in favor of dismissing the parties, the civil case could be the first case to reach its end.

Another avenue for quickly ending this case would be for the city to settle with Nichols’ family. It’s not clear what the price tag for settling would be, but with a new mayoral administration beginning, there could also come a change in thinking within the city’s legal department.

Former Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice Donald, a Mid-South native, was selected as a mediator by the Nichols family and co-defendants. Per the scheduling order, mediation should be completed by the end of February.

The DOJ's pattern-or-practice investigation continues, unlikely to be complete for another year

The DOJ’s pattern-or-practice investigation is one unknown in the series of legal branches coming from Tyre Nichols’ beating.

Throughout late 2023, DOJ investigators hosted a series of meetings around the city to hear from Memphians about their experiences with the Memphis Police Department. Most of these experiences were negative, but some people spoke about uplifting interactions with officers.

The findings and progress of the investigation are being kept a secret, and little information could be gathered from public meetings.

Taking a look at other cities: What to expect with DOJ's investigation into Memphis police

Prior investigations into similarly sized cities and police departments, like the Minnesota Police Department and the St. Louis Metro Police Department, lasted about two years, so 2024 is unlikely to end with a report from the DOJ.

Meetings will likely continue, and the DOJ may begin follow-up interviews as more information comes to them. They have also said they plan to speak with Memphis police officers, and conduct ride-alongs, to see how the officers act on a daily basis.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What to expect in Tyre Nichols legal proceedings in 2024